supplementary
adjective, noun
supplementary is spelled S-U-P-P-L-E-M-E-N-T-A-R-Y: 13 letters and 5 syllables. It appears 2.3 times per million words in written English, the 18,064th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, supplementary means “Additional; added to supply what is wanted” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in supplementary?
| Letters | 13: S-U-P-P-L-E-M-E-N-T-A-R-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 5 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.3 times per million words; the 18,064th 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 supplementary?
Supplementary appears 2.3 times per million words in written English, the 18,064th 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 supplementary?
Supplementary has 5 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-supplementary.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of supplementary
- more supplementary comparative
- most supplementary superlative
- supplementaries plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does supplementary mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Additional; added to supply what is wanted.
noun
- 1
Something additional; an extra.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Supplementary in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense additional:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | supplémentaire |
| German | zusätzlich |
| Portuguese | suplementar, adicional |
| Spanish | suplementario, supletorio |
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 supplementary come from?
From supplement + -ary; compare French supplémentaire.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).