temporary
tem·po·rary/ˈtɛmp(əˌɹ)ɛɹi/adjective, noun
temporary is spelled T-E-M-P-O-R-A-R-Y, 3 syllables: tem·po·rary. The wrong spelling people search most is tempory: about 90 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 81 of all searches for the word. Temporary is an adjective meaning “Not permanent; existing only for a period or periods of time”.
How many letters and syllables are in temporary?
| Letters | 9: T-E-M-P-O-R-A-R-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: tem·po·rary |
| In writing | 30 times per million words; the 3,114th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, tempory, about 90 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell temporary?
Temporary is spelled T-E-M-P-O-R-A-R-Y. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 66 of the searches for temporary in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is temporary?
Temporary appears 30 times per million words in written English, the 3,114th 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 temporary?
- UK /ˈtɛmpəɹəɹi/
- UK /ˈtɛmpəɹi/
- US /ˈtɛmp(əˌɹ)ɛɹi/
Temporary has 3 syllables, split tem·po·rary in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-temporary.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of temporary
- more temporary comparative
- most temporary superlative
- temporaries plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does temporary mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Not permanent; existing only for a period or periods of time.
Sally was put in temporary charge of the department while they searched for a full-time replacement.
- 2
Existing only for a short time or short times.
noun
- 1
One serving for a limited time; a short-term employee, especially in an office.
- 2
A short-term variable used to store an intermediate result.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate temporary?
Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of temporary: Temp., temp.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Temporary in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | temporaire, provisoire , intérimaire |
| German | zeitweilig, temporär, vorübergehend , Zeitarbeitskraft |
| Portuguese | temporário |
| Spanish | temporario, temporáneo, temporero , temporal |
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 temporary come from?
Borrowed from Latin temporarius, from tempus (“time”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).