stench
/stɛnt͡ʃ/noun, verb
stench is spelled S-T-E-N-C-H: 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, stench means “a strong foul smell; a stink” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of stench is stenches.
How many letters and syllables are in stench?
| Letters | 6: S-T-E-N-C-H |
|---|---|
| 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 |
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).
How common is stench?
Stench 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 stench?
- /stɛnt͡ʃ/
Stench 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-stench.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of stench
- stenches plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- stenching participle, present
- stenched participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does stench mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
a strong foul smell; a stink.
- 2
A foul quality.
the stench of political corruption
- 3
obsoleteA smell or odour, not necessarily bad.
verb
- 1
obsoleteTo cause to emit a disagreeable odour; to cause to stink.
- 2
To stanch.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Stench in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense a strong foul smell, a stink:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | puanteur |
| German | Gestank |
| Portuguese | fedor |
| Spanish | hedor, fetidez, peste, tufo, fetor, hediondez |
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 stench come from?
From Middle English stench, from Old English stenċ (“stench, odor, fragrance”), from Proto-Germanic *stankwiz (“smell, fragrance, odor”), from Proto-Indo-European *stengʷ- (“to push, thrust”). Cognate with Dutch stank (“stench, odor”), German Stank, Gestank (“stench, odor, smell”), Danish stank (“stench”), Swedish stank (“stench”), Icelandic stækja (“stench”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).