sultan
sul·tan/ˈsʌltən/noun
sultan is spelled S-U-L-T-A-N: 6 letters and 2 syllables (sul·tan). It appears 4.4 times per million words in written English, the 12,216th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, sultan means “The holder of a secular office, formally subordinate to, but de facto the power behind the throne of, the caliph” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of sultan is sultans or sulṭāns; Wiktionary also lists salateen (rare).
How many letters and syllables are in sultan?
| Letters | 6: S-U-L-T-A-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: sul·tan |
| In writing | 4.4 times per million words; the 12,216th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in 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).
How common is sultan?
Sultan appears 4.4 times per million words in written English, the 12,216th 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 sultan?
- /ˈsʌltən/
Sultan has 2 syllables, split sul·tan in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-sultan.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of sultan
- sultans plural
- salateen plural, rare
- sulṭān rare
- sulṭāns plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sultan mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The holder of a secular office, formally subordinate to, but de facto the power behind the throne of, the caliph.
- 2
A hereditary ruler in various Muslim states (sultanate), varying from petty principalities (as in Yemen), often vassal of a greater ruler, to independent realms, such as Oman, Brunei, Morocco (until 1957) or an empire such as the Turkish Ottoman Empire.
- 3
A variant of solitaire, played with two decks of cards.
- 4
A breed of chicken originating in Turkey, kept primarily in gardens for ornamental reasons. See: sultan (chicken)
noun
- 1
rareRare spelling of sultan.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Sultan in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense ruler:
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 sultan come from?
Borrowed from Middle French sultan or Medieval Latin sultanus, from Ottoman Turkish سلطان (sultan), from Arabic سُلْطَان (sulṭān, “strength, authority, ruler”). Compare Hebrew שִׁלְטוֹן (shiltón) and סוּלְטָן (sultán). Doublet of soldan.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).