stymie
/ˈstaɪmi/noun, verb
stymie is spelled S-T-Y-M-I-E: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 7 million words in written English, the 78,613th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, stymie means “A situation where an opponent's ball is directly in the way of one's own ball and the hole, on the putting green (abolished 1952)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of stymie is stymies.
How many letters and syllables are in stymie?
| Letters | 6: S-T-Y-M-I-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 7 million words; the 78,613th 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 stymie?
Stymie appears about once in every 7 million words in written English, the 78,613th 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 stymie?
- /ˈstaɪmi/
Stymie 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: En-us-stymie.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-stymie.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of stymie
- stymies plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- stimie
- stimy
- stymy
- stymieing participle, present
- stymying participle, present
- stymied participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does stymie mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A situation where an opponent's ball is directly in the way of one's own ball and the hole, on the putting green (abolished 1952).
- 2
An obstacle or obstruction.
verb
- 1
To thwart or stump; to cause to fail or to leave hopelessly puzzled, confused, or stuck.
They had lost the key, and the lock stymied the first three locksmiths they called.
- 2
To bring into the position of, or impede by, a stymie.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Stymie in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense to thwart or stump:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | obstruer, mettre en échec |
| German | lahmlegen |
| Portuguese | impedir, obstruir |
| Spanish | obstaculizar |
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 stymie come from?
From the meaning in golf (where the stymie ball blocks the other ball from "seeing" the hole), perhaps from Scots stymie, stimie (“person with poor eyesight”), from Scots stime (“the least bit”). Or from Scots styme (“tiny bit, glimmer”) as in se nocht ane styme (“not to see a glimmer (of something)”). If so, it is a doublet of stime.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).