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PlainSpell

spring

/ˈspɹɪŋ/verb, noun

spring is spelled S-P-R-I-N-G: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears 83 times per million words in written English, the 1,272nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, spring means “To move or burst forth” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in spring?

Letters6: S-P-R-I-N-G
Syllables1
In writing83 times per million words; the 1,272nd 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 spring?

Spring appears 83 times per million words in written English, the 1,272nd 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 spring?

  • US /ˈspɹɪŋ/
  • US [ˈspɹʷɪŋ]
  • /ˈspɹiŋ/

Spring has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-spring.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-spring.wav, En-us-spring.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with spring?

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

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 spring

  • springs present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • springing participle, present
  • sprang past, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • sprung past, participle
  • springed participle, past

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

What does spring mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To move or burst forth.

    The boat sprang a leak and began to sink.

  2. 2

    To appear.

  3. 3

    To grow, to sprout.

  4. 4

    UKTo mature.

  5. 5

    To arise, to come into existence.

  6. 6

    To enliven.

    He hit the gas and the car sprang to life.

  7. 7

    To move with great speed and energy.

    Deer spring with their hind legs, using their front hooves to steady themselves.

  8. 8

    To be born, descend, or originate from

    He sprang from peasant stock.

  9. 9

    To spend the springtime somewhere.

noun

  1. 1

    An act of springing: a leap, a jump.

  2. 2

    The season of the year in temperate regions in which temperatures and daylight hours rise, and plants spring from the ground and into bloom and dormant animals spring to life.

    Spring is the time of the year most species reproduce.

  3. 3

    The period from the moment of vernal equinox (around March 21 in the Northern Hemisphere) to the moment of the summer solstice (around June 21); the equivalent periods reckoned in other cultures and calendars.

    Chinese New Year always occurs in January or February but is called the "Spring Festival" throughout East Asia because it is reckoned as the beginning of their spring.

  4. 4

    The three months of March, April, and May in the Northern Hemisphere and September, October, and November in the Southern Hemisphere.

    I spent my spring holidays in Morocco.

  5. 5

    The time of something's growth; the early stages of some process.

  6. 6

    A period of political liberalization and democratization.

    Arab Spring

  7. 7

    Someone with ivory or peach skin tone and eyes and hair that are not extremely dark, seen as best suited to certain colors of clothing.

  8. 8

    A spray or body of water springing from the ground.

    This beer was brewed with pure spring water.

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

Spring in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Spanishentrar en acción (to move or burst forth), primavera (season between winter and summer in temperate…), fuente, manantial, vertiente, manadero (water springing from the ground)
Frenchprintemps (season between winter and summer in temperate…), source (water springing from the ground), ressort (device made of flexible material)
GermanFrühling, Frühjahr, (dated)/(poetic) Lenz, Frühlingszeit, Frühjahrszeit, Früelig (season between winter and summer in temperate…)
Portugueseprimavera (season between winter and summer in temperate…), fonte, manancial (water springing from the ground), mola (device made of flexible material), espringue, lançante (nautical: line from an end to another vessel or…)

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 spring come from?

From Middle English springen, from Old English springan (“to spring, leap, bounce, sprout forth, emerge, spread out”), from Proto-West Germanic *springan, from Proto-Germanic *springaną (“to burst forth”), from Proto-Indo-European *spre(n)ǵʰ- (“to move, race, spring”), from *sperǵʰ- (“to hurry”).

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

What to look up after spring