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PlainSpell

stiletto

/stɪˈlɛtoʊ/noun, verb

stiletto is spelled S-T-I-L-E-T-T-O: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 40,267th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, stiletto means “A small, slender knife or dagger-like weapon intended for stabbing” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of stiletto is stilettos or stilettoes.

How many letters and syllables are in stiletto?

Letters8: S-T-I-L-E-T-T-O
Syllables3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 2 million words; the 40,267th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

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 stiletto?

Stiletto appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 40,267th 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 stiletto?

  • US /stɪˈlɛtoʊ/
  • US [stɪˈlɛɾoʊ]
  • UK /stɪˈlɛtəʊ/

Stiletto has 3 syllables (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-stiletto.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with stiletto?

8 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as stiletto from its last stressed vowel (/ɛtoʊ/):

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 stiletto

  • stilettos plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • stilettoes plural
  • stiletti plural
  • stilettoing participle, present
  • stilettoed participle, past

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

What does stiletto mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A small, slender knife or dagger-like weapon intended for stabbing.

  2. 2

    A rapier.

  3. 3

    An awl.

  4. 4

    A woman's shoe with a tall, slender heel (called a stiletto heel).

  5. 5

    obsoleteA beard trimmed into a pointed form.

verb

  1. 1

    To attack or kill with a stiletto (dagger).

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

Stiletto in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchstylet (stabbing weapon), talon aiguille (woman's shoe with a tall, slender heel)
GermanStilett, Dolchmesser (stabbing weapon), Stöckelschuh, Stiletto (woman's shoe with a tall, slender heel)
Portugueseestilete (stabbing weapon)
Spanishestilete (stabbing weapon), zapato de tacón de aguja (woman's shoe with a tall, slender heel)

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 stiletto come from?

Borrowed from Italian stiletto. By surface analysis, Latin stilus + Italian -etto. Doublet of stylet.

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

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