suspend
/səsˈpɛnd/verb
suspend is spelled S-U-S-P-E-N-D: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 4.8 times per million words in written English, the 11,541st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, suspend means “To halt something temporarily” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in suspend?
| Letters | 7: S-U-S-P-E-N-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 4.8 times per million words; the 11,541st 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 suspend?
Suspend appears 4.8 times per million words in written English, the 11,541st 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 suspend?
- /səsˈpɛnd/
Suspend 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-suspend.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of suspend
- suspends present, singular, he/she/it
- suspending participle, present
- suspended participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does suspend mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To halt something temporarily.
The meeting was suspended for lunch.
- 2
To hold in an undetermined or undecided state.
- 3
To discontinue or interrupt a function, task, position, or event.
to suspend a thread of execution in a computer program
- 4
To hang freely; underhang.
to suspend a ball by a thread
- 5
To bring a solid substance, usually in powder form, into suspension in a liquid.
- 6
obsoleteTo make to depend.
- 7
To debar, or cause to withdraw temporarily, from any privilege, from the execution of an office, from the enjoyment of income, etc.
to suspend a student from college; to suspend a member of a club
- 8
To support in a liquid, as an insoluble powder, by stirring, to facilitate chemical action.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Suspend in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | suspendre , mettre en suspension |
| German | suspendieren, unterbrechen , aufhängen , aufheben, aussetzen |
| Portuguese | suspender |
| Spanish | suspender |
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 suspend come from?
From Old French sospendre, from Latin suspendere.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).