spasm
/ˈspæz.m̩/noun, verb
spasm is spelled S-P-A-S-M. The wrong spelling people search most is spazm: about 120 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 10 of all searches for the word. Spasm is a noun meaning “A sudden, involuntary contraction of a muscle, a group of muscles, or a hollow organ”. The plural of spasm is spasms.
How many letters and syllables are in spasm?
| Letters | 5: S-P-A-S-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 35,748th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, spazm, about 120 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; 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 spasm?
Spasm is spelled S-P-A-S-M. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 10 of the searches for spasm 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 spasm?
Spasm appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 35,748th 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 spasm?
- /ˈspæz.m̩/
Spasm has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-spasm.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of spasm
- spasms plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- spasming participle, present
- spasmed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does spasm mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A sudden, involuntary contraction of a muscle, a group of muscles, or a hollow organ.
Jessica went into spasms after eating a peanut.
- 2
A violent, excruciating seizure of pain.
- 3
A sudden and temporary burst of energy, activity, or emotion.
verb
- 1
To produce and undergo a spasm or series of spasms.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Spasm in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | spasme |
| German | Krampf, Muskelkrampf, Spasmus , Anfall , verkrampfen, krampfen |
| Portuguese | espasmo |
| Spanish | espasmo , acceso |
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 spasm come from?
From Middle English spasme, from Old French spasme, from Latin spasmus, from Ancient Greek σπασμός (spasmós, “spasm, convulsion”), from σπάω (spáō, “to draw out, pull out”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).