souvenir
sou·ve·nir/ˈsu.vəˌnɪɹ/noun, verb
souvenir is spelled S-O-U-V-E-N-I-R, 3 syllables: sou·ve·nir. The wrong spelling people search most is souvenier: about 360 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 11 of all searches for the word. Souvenir is a noun meaning “An item of sentimental value, that is given or kept to remember an event or location”. The plural of souvenir is souvenirs.
How many letters and syllables are in souvenir?
| Letters | 8: S-O-U-V-E-N-I-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: sou·ve·nir |
| In writing | 2.3 times per million words; the 18,064th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, souvenier, about 360 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell souvenir?
Souvenir is spelled S-O-U-V-E-N-I-R. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 11 of the searches for souvenir in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is souvenir?
Souvenir appears 2.3 times per million words in written English, the 18,064th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce souvenir?
- UK /ˌsuː.vəˈnɪə/
- US /ˈsu.vəˌnɪɹ/
- US /ˌsu.vəˈnɪɹ/
Souvenir has 3 syllables, split sou·ve·nir in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-souvenir.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of souvenir
- souvenirs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- souveniring participle, present
- souvenired participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does souvenir mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An item of sentimental value, that is given or kept to remember an event or location.
verb
- 1
To take (something) as a souvenir, especially illicitly, for example during wartime.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Souvenir in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense item of sentimental value:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | souvenir |
| German | Andenken, Reisemitbringsel, Souvenir, Erinnerungsstück, Mitbringsel |
| Portuguese | suvenir, souvenir |
| Spanish | recuerdo, tornaviaje, souvenir, suvenir |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does souvenir come from?
Unadapted borrowing from French souvenir (literally “memory”). Compare memento.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).