thrips
noun
thrips is spelled T-H-R-I-P-S: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 6 million words in written English, the 70,702nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, thrips means “Any of the many small insects of the order Thysanoptera, especially those that attack useful plants” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of thrips is thripses.
How many letters and syllables are in thrips?
| Letters | 6: T-H-R-I-P-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 6 million words; the 70,702nd 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 thrips?
Thrips appears about once in every 6 million words in written English, the 70,702nd 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 thrips?
Thrips 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).
Forms of thrips
- thripses plural
- thrip singular
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does thrips mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Any of the many small insects of the order Thysanoptera, especially those that attack useful plants.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Thrips in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense insect of the order Thysanoptera:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | thrips, thrip |
| German | Fransenflügler |
| Spanish | tisanóptero |
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 thrips come from?
Borrowed from Ancient Greek θρίψ (thríps, “wood-worm”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).