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spite

/spaɪt/noun, verb, preposition

spite is spelled S-P-I-T-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 11 times per million words in written English, the 6,674th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, spite means “Ill will or hatred toward another, accompanied with the desire to unjustifiably irritate, annoy, or thwart; a want to disturb or put out another…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of spite is spites.

How many letters and syllables are in spite?

Letters5: S-P-I-T-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing11 times per million words; the 6,674th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Same letters

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

How common is spite?

Spite appears 11 times per million words in written English, the 6,674th 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 spite?

  • /spaɪt/

Spite has one syllable (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-spite.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with spite?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as spite.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: stipe, piste.

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 spite

  • spites plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • spiting participle, present
  • spited participle, past

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

What does spite mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    Ill will or hatred toward another, accompanied with the desire to unjustifiably irritate, annoy, or thwart; a want to disturb or put out another; mild malice.

    He was so filled with spite for his ex-wife, his brother was afraid of what he might do.

  2. 2

    obsoleteVexation; chagrin; mortification.

verb

  1. 1

    To treat maliciously; to try to hurt or thwart.

    She soon married again, to spite her ex-husband.

  2. 2

    obsoleteTo be angry at; to hate.

  3. 3

    To fill with spite; to offend; to vex.

preposition

  1. 1

    Notwithstanding; despite.

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

Spite in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchdépit, rancune (ill-will or hatred toward another; a desire to…)
GermanBoshaftigkeit, Gehässigkeit (ill-will or hatred toward another; a desire to…), Ärgernis (vexation, chagrin, mortification), ärgern, es heimzahlen, misshandeln (to treat maliciously)
Portuguesedesprezo, rancor (ill-will or hatred toward another; a desire to…), provocar (to treat maliciously), desprezar (to be angry at; to hate)
Spanishdespecho, ojeriza, saña (ill-will or hatred toward another; a desire to…), enfadar (to fill with spite)

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 spite come from?

From Middle English spit, a shortening of despit (whence despite), from Old French despit, from Latin dēspectum (“looking down on”), from Latin dēspiciō (“to look down, despise”). Compare also North Frisian spīt, spīd (“regret”), Saterland Frisian Spiet (“regret, remorse”), West Frisian spyt (“regret”), Dutch spijt (“regret, remorse”), German Low German Spiet (“anger, regret, remorse”), German Spiet (“annoyance, vexation”), Swedish spit (“insult, outrage, annoyance”), Norwegian spit (“insult, outrage, annoyance”).

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

What to look up after spite