tax
/tæks/noun, verb
tax is spelled T-A-X: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 138 times per million words in written English, the 756th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, tax means “Money or goods collected by a government (or an entity to whom the government has delegated this power, e.g. in tax farming) to fund itself and its…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of tax is taxes.
How many letters and syllables are in tax?
| Letters | 3: T-A-X |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 138 times per million words; the 756th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is tax?
Tax appears 138 times per million words in written English, the 756th 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 tax?
- /tæks/
Tax has one syllable (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: En-us-tax.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-tax.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with tax?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as tax.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: xat.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of tax
- taxes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- taxing participle, present
- taxed participle, past
- taxo-
- taxi-
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does tax mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Money or goods collected by a government (or an entity to whom the government has delegated this power, e.g. in tax farming) to fund itself and its services, for example by levying a charge on income, purchases (sales), property or harvest, other than that money which is collected by the government in exchange for specific goods (e.g. the purchase of surplus vehicles).
- 2
A charge (of money, food, labor, etc) collected by a person, organization, etc; something required (exacted) from someone who is (really or notionally) under the control of the taxer, such as a contribution or service.
- 3
A burdensome demand
a heavy tax on time or health
verb
- 1
To impose and collect a tax from (a person or company).
Some think to tax the wealthy is the fairest.
- 2
To impose and collect a tax on (something).
Some think to tax wealth is destructive of a private sector.
- 3
To make excessive demands on.
Do not tax my patience.
- 4
To accuse.
- 5
To examine accounts in order to allow or disallow items.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate tax?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of tax: tx.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Tax in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | impôt , imposer, taxer |
| German | Steuer , besteuern , strapazieren, belasten |
| Portuguese | imposto, tributo , tributar, taxar |
| Spanish | impuesto, tasa, gabela, tax, mita, alfarda |
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 tax come from?
From Middle English taxe, from Middle French taxe, from Medieval Latin taxa, from Latin taxō (“to appraise, value, estimate; (medieval) to tax”). Doublet of task. Displaced native Old English gafol, which was also the word for “tribute” and “rent”.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).