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PlainSpell

suit

/sjuːt/noun, verb

suit is spelled S-U-I-T: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 50 times per million words in written English, the 2,041st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “suit vs suite” about 1,600 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, suit means “A set of clothes to be worn together, now especially a man's matching jacket and trousers (also business suit or lounge suit), or a similar outfit…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of suit is suits.

How many letters and syllables are in suit?

Letters4: S-U-I-T
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing50 times per million words; the 2,041st most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people 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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).

How common is suit?

Suit appears 50 times per million words in written English, the 2,041st 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 suit?

  • /sjuːt/
  • /sɪu̯t/
  • /sjuʈ/

Suit 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: En-uk-suit-with-yod.ogg, En-uk-suit-without-yod.ogg, En-us-suit.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with suit

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

suit vs suite1,600 G

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Forms of suit

  • suits plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • suiting participle, present
  • suited participle, past

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

What does suit mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A set of clothes to be worn together, now especially a man's matching jacket and trousers (also business suit or lounge suit), or a similar outfit for a woman.

    Nick hired a navy-blue suit for the wedding.

  2. 2

    A garment or set of garments suitable and/or required for a given task or activity: space suit, boiler suit, protective suit, swimsuit.

  3. 3

    A dress.

  4. 4

    derogatoryslangA person who wears matching jacket and trousers, especially a boss or a supervisor.

    Be sure to keep your nose to the grindstone today; the suits are making a "surprise" visit to this department.

  5. 5

    A full set of armour.

  6. 6

    The attempt to gain an end by legal process; a process instituted in a court of law for the recovery of a right or claim; a lawsuit.

    If you take my advice, you'll file a suit against him immediately.

  7. 7

    Petition, request, entreaty.

  8. 8

    obsoleteThe act of following or pursuing; pursuit, chase.

verb

  1. 1

    To make proper or suitable; to adapt or fit.

  2. 2

    To be suitable or apt for one's image.

    The ripped jeans didn't suit her elegant image.

  3. 3

    To be appropriate or apt for.

    The nickname "Bullet" suits her, since she is a fast runner.

  4. 4

    To dress; to clothe.

  5. 5

    To please; to make content; to fit someone's (or one's own) taste.

    will build to suit   [on for-sale signs marking vacant lots]

  6. 6

    To agree; to be fitted; to correspond (usually followed by to, archaically also followed by with).

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

Suit in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchcomplet, costume, tailleur, ensemble, tenue (set of clothes), combinaison (garment suitable for a task)
GermanAnzug (set of clothes), Anzugträger (slang: person who wears matching jacket and…), Farbe (card games: set of cards distinguished by color…), passen (to be appropriate or apt for)
Portugueseterno, traje, fato (set of clothes), engravatado (slang: person who wears matching jacket and…), armadura (full set of armour), velame (full set of sails)
Spanishtraje, terno, flux, tacuche, ternada (set of clothes), palo (card games: set of cards distinguished by color…)

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 suit come from?

Inherited from Middle English sute, borrowed from Anglo-Norman suite, from metathesis of earlier Old French siute, from Vulgar Latin *sequita, from *sequere, from sequor, sequi, from Proto-Italic *sekʷōr, from Proto-Indo-European *sékʷetor, from *sekʷ-. Doublet of suite. Cognate with Italian seguire and Spanish seguir. Related to sue and segue.

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

What to look up after suit