stream
/ˈstɹiːm/noun, verb
stream is spelled S-T-R-E-A-M: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears 42 times per million words in written English, the 2,392nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, stream means “A small river; a large creek; a body of moving water confined by banks” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of stream is streams.
How many letters and syllables are in stream?
| Letters | 6: S-T-R-E-A-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | 42 times per million words; the 2,392nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
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 stream?
Stream appears 42 times per million words in written English, the 2,392nd 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 stream?
- /ˈstɹiːm/
- [ˈstɹ̝̊ʷɪi̯m] ~ [ˈst̠ɹ̠̊˔ʷɪi̯m]
- /ˈstɾim/
Stream has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-stream.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with stream?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as stream.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: master.
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 stream
- streams plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- streaming participle, present
- streamed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does stream mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A small river; a large creek; a body of moving water confined by banks.
- 2
All moving waters.
- 3
A thin connected passing of a liquid through a lighter gas (e.g. air).
He poured the milk in a thin stream from the jug to the glass.
- 4
Current, the force of moving water.
to swim against the stream
- 5
Any steady flow or succession of material, such as water, air, radio signal or words.
Her constant nagging was to him a stream of abuse.
- 6
A particular path, channel, division, or way of proceeding.
Haredi Judaism is a stream of Orthodox Judaism characterized by rejection of modern secular culture.
- 7
A source or repository of data that can be read or written only sequentially.
In the context of computer science, lexical analysis can be defined as the conversion of a stream of characters to a stream of meaningful tokens.
- 8
An instance of streaming digital data.
verb
- 1
To flow in a continuous or steady manner, like a liquid.
- 2
To extend; to stretch out with a wavy motion; to float in the wind.
A flag streams in the wind.
- 3
To discharge in a stream.
The soldier's wound was streaming blood.
- 4
To push continuous data (e.g. music) from a server to a client computer while it is being used (played) on the client.
- 5
To livestream.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Stream in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | ruisseau, ru, rupt , filet , flot, courant |
| German | Bach , Strom , Datenstrom , strömen , streamen |
| Portuguese | riacho, correnteza , fluxo , stream , correr , corrente de água |
| Spanish | corriente, flujo, arroyo , chorro, surtidor, surtidero |
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 stream come from?
From Middle English streem, strem, from Old English strēam, from Proto-West Germanic *straum, from Proto-Germanic *straumaz (“stream”), from Proto-Indo-European *srowmos (“river”), from Proto-Indo-European *srew- (“to flow”). Doublet of rheum.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).