spermaceti
/spɚməˈsiːti/noun
spermaceti is spelled S-P-E-R-M-A-C-E-T-I: 10 letters. It appears about once in every 30 million words in written English, the 165,739th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, spermaceti means “A wax obtained from the head of sperm whales and used to make cosmetics, etc; humans separate it out from sperm oil” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in spermaceti?
| Letters | 10: S-P-E-R-M-A-C-E-T-I |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 30 million words; the 165,739th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 spermaceti?
Spermaceti appears about once in every 30 million words in written English, the 165,739th 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 spermaceti?
- UK /ˌspɜːməˈsiːti/
- US /spɚməˈsiːti/
- US /spɚməˈsɛti/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-spermaceti.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with spermaceti?
4 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as spermaceti from its last stressed vowel (/iti/):
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).
What does spermaceti mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A wax obtained from the head of sperm whales and used to make cosmetics, etc; humans separate it out from sperm oil.
Holonym: sperm oil
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Spermaceti in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense wax obtained from the head of sperm whale:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | Walrat, Spermazet |
| Spanish | esperma de ballena, espermaceti |
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 spermaceti come from?
From Latin sperma (“sperm”) + Latin cētī (“of the whale”, genitive of cētus).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).