sprout
/spɹaʊt/noun, verb
sprout is spelled S-P-R-O-U-T: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 25,070th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, sprout means “A new growth of or on a plant, whether from seed or other parts” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of sprout is sprouts.
How many letters and syllables are in sprout?
| Letters | 6: S-P-R-O-U-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.3 times per million words; the 25,070th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| 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 sprout?
Sprout appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 25,070th 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 sprout?
- US /spɹaʊt/
- Canada /spɹʌʊt/
Sprout 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-sprout.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with sprout?
10 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as sprout from its last stressed vowel (/aʊt/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: stupor.
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 sprout
- sprouts plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- sprouting participle, present
- sprouted participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sprout mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A new growth of or on a plant, whether from seed or other parts.
- 2
A germinated seed, an incipient young plant.
Near-synonyms: seedling, chit
- 3
An edible variety of such, grown and intended as food; examples include bean, alfalfa, kale, and others.
- 4
A bean sprout.
- 5
informalA child.
Oh my, how your sprouts have grown!
- 6
A Brussels sprout.
In our family we only eat sprouts once a year, at Christmas.
verb
- 1
To grow from seed; to germinate.
The crocuses should be sprouting after 2 months, provided they're well tended.
- 2
To cause to grow from a seed.
I sprouted beans and radishes and put them in my salad.
- 3
To deprive of sprouts.
to sprout potatoes
- 4
To emerge from the ground as sprouts.
- 5
To emerge haphazardly from a surface.
Whiskers sprouted from the old man's chin.
- 6
To emerge or appear haphazardly.
A lot of coffee shops have sprouted up in this neighbourhood since the block of flats was put up.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Sprout in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | pousse , jeune pousse , graine germée , germer , faire germer |
| German | Spross, Sprössling , Sprossen , sprießen, keimen, (Zweige) treiben |
| Portuguese | broto, rebento , germinar , brotar |
| Spanish | brote, retoño, brota, broto, raijo , brotar |
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 sprout come from?
From Middle English sproute, either from Middle English sprouten (“to sprout”) (see below); or from Middle Dutch sprute or Middle Low German sprûte (“sprout”), all related to Proto-West Germanic *spreutan. Doublet of spruit.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).