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stratum

/ˈstɹeɪ.təm/noun

stratum is spelled S-T-R-A-T-U-M: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 43,187th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, stratum means “One of several parallel horizontal layers of material arranged one on top of another” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of stratum is strata; Wiktionary also lists stratums (rare).

How many letters and syllables are in stratum?

Letters7: S-T-R-A-T-U-M
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 2 million words; the 43,187th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 stratum?

Stratum appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 43,187th 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 stratum?

  • UK /ˈstɹɑː.təm/
  • UK /ˈstɹeɪ.təm/
  • US /ˈstɹeɪ.təm/

Stratum has 2 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-stratum.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-stratum2.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of stratum

  • strata plural
  • stratums plural, rare

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

What does stratum mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    One of several parallel horizontal layers of material arranged one on top of another.

  2. 2

    A layer of sedimentary rock having approximately the same composition throughout.

  3. 3

    Any of the regions of the atmosphere, such as the stratosphere, that occur as layers.

  4. 4

    A layer of tissue.

  5. 5

    A class of society composed of people with similar social, cultural, or economic status.

  6. 6

    A layer of vegetation, usually of similar height.

  7. 7

    The level of accuracy of a computer's clock, relative to others on the network.

  8. 8

    A historical layer of a language.

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

Stratum in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchcouche (one of several parallel horizontal layers of…), strate (layer of sedimentary rock having approximately…), stratum (layer of tissue), classe (class of society composed of people with…)
Portugueseestrato (one of several parallel horizontal layers of…)
GermanBank (layer of sedimentary rock having approximately…)
Spanishestrato (layer of sedimentary rock having approximately…), estamento (class of society composed of people with…), capa (any of the regions of the atmosphere)

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 stratum come from?

Borrowed from Latin strātum (“a spread for a bed, coverlet, quilt, blanket; a pillow, bolster; a bed”), neuter singular of strātus, perfect passive participle of sternō (“spread”). Doublet of estrade and street.

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

What to look up after stratum