sulfur
sul·fur/ˈsʌl.fə/noun, adjective, verb
sulfur is spelled S-U-L-F-U-R, 2 syllables: sul·fur. The wrong spelling people search most is sulfer: about 740 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 2 in 10 of all searches for the word. Sulfur is a noun meaning “A chemical element with atomic number 16, having a bright yellow color and characteristic smell, used…”. The plural of sulfur is sulfurs.
How many letters and syllables are in sulfur?
| Letters | 6: S-U-L-F-U-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: sul·fur |
| In writing | 2.7 times per million words; the 16,455th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, sulfer, about 740 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people search |
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); 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 do you spell sulfur?
Sulfur is spelled S-U-L-F-U-R. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 2 in 10 of the searches for sulfur in either form.
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). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is sulfur?
Sulfur appears 2.7 times per million words in written English, the 16,455th 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 sulfur?
- UK /ˈsʌl.fə/
- /ˈsʊl.fə/
- /ˈsʌl.fəɹ/
Sulfur has 2 syllables, split sul·fur in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Tesco250-sulfur.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-sulfur.wav, En-us-sulfur.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with sulfur
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: sulphur.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of sulfur
- sulfurs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- sulphur
- more sulfur comparative
- most sulfur superlative
- sulfuring participle, present
- sulfured participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sulfur mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A chemical element with atomic number 16, having a bright yellow color and characteristic smell, used commercially in a variety of products such as insecticides, black powder, and matchsticks.
- 2
The element symbolically associated with hellfire or damnation, or in alchemy, the fiery principle present in all things.
- 3
A yellowish green colour, like that of sulfur.
- 4
Any of various pierid butterflies of the subfamily Coliadinae, especially the sulfur-coloured species.
adjective
- 1
Of a yellowish green colour, like that of sulfur.
- 2
Having a characteristic sulfur-like smell, reminiscent of rotten eggs.
verb
- 1
To treat with sulfur, or a sulfur compound, especially to preserve or to counter agricultural pests.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Sulfur in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
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 sulfur come from?
From Middle English sulphur, borrowed from Anglo-Norman sulfre, from Latin sulfur, from sulpur itself of uncertain origin. Displaced Old English swefl and largely displaced brimstone.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).