syntax
/ˈsɪn.tæks/noun
syntax is spelled S-Y-N-T-A-X: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 3.4 times per million words in written English, the 14,307th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, syntax means “A set of rules that govern how words are combined to form phrases and sentences” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of syntax is syntaxes or syntaces; Wiktionary also lists syntices (proscribed).
How many letters and syllables are in syntax?
| Letters | 6: S-Y-N-T-A-X |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.4 times per million words; the 14,307th 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 syntax?
Syntax appears 3.4 times per million words in written English, the 14,307th 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 syntax?
- /ˈsɪn.tæks/
Syntax 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-syntax.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of syntax
- syntaxes plural
- syntaces plural
- syntices plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does syntax mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A set of rules that govern how words are combined to form phrases and sentences.
- 2
The formal rules of formulating the statements of a computer language.
- 3
The study of the structure of phrases, sentences, and language.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Syntax 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 syntax come from?
Partly from Late Latin syntaxis and partly from its etymon, Ancient Greek σύνταξις (súntaxis), from σύν (sún, “together”) + τάξις (táxis, “arrangement”), from τάσσω (tássō, “to arrange”). Doublet of syntaxis.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).