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PlainSpell

sperm

/spɜɹm/noun, verb

sperm is spelled S-P-E-R-M: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 6.9 times per million words in written English, the 9,045th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, sperm means “The reproductive cell or gamete of the male; a spermatozoon” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of sperm is sperms.

How many letters and syllables are in sperm?

Letters5: S-P-E-R-M
Syllables1
In writing6.9 times per million words; the 9,045th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is sperm?

Sperm appears 6.9 times per million words in written English, the 9,045th 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 sperm?

  • US /spɜɹm/
  • UK /spɜːm/

Sperm has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-sperm2.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with sperm?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as sperm from its last stressed vowel (/ɜɹm/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of sperm

  • sperms plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • sperming participle, present
  • spermed participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does sperm mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The reproductive cell or gamete of the male; a spermatozoon.

  2. 2

    slangSemen; the generative substance of male animals.

  3. 3

    Sperm oil; whale oil from a sperm whale; spermaceti.

verb

  1. 1

    slangvulgarTo ejaculate.

  2. 2

    slangvulgarTo ejaculate on or into.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Sperm in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchspermatozoïde (cell), sperme, semence (semen (fluid)), spermer, se vider les couilles, gicler (to ejaculate)
GermanSpermium, Samenzelle (cell), Sperma (semen (fluid))
Portugueseespermatozoide (cell), esperma (semen (fluid))
Spanishespermatozoide (cell), esperma (semen (fluid))

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 sperm come from?

From Middle English sperme, from Latin sperma, from Ancient Greek σπέρμα (spérma, “seed, semen”). Compare also Old French esperme, sparme.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after sperm