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PlainSpell

tight

/taɪt/adjective, adverb

tight is spelled T-I-G-H-T: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 37 times per million words in written English, the 2,618th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, tight means “Firmly held together; compact; not loose or open” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in tight?

Letters5: T-I-G-H-T
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing37 times per million words; the 2,618th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 tight?

Tight appears 37 times per million words in written English, the 2,618th 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 tight?

  • /taɪt/

Tight 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-tight.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of tight

  • tighter comparative
  • tightest superlative
  • tights present, singular, he/she/it
  • tighting participle, present
  • tighted participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does tight mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Firmly held together; compact; not loose or open.

    a tight sponge; a tight knot

  2. 2

    Unyielding or firm.

    tight control on a situation

  3. 3

    Under high tension; taut.

    Make sure to pull the rope tight.

  4. 4

    colloquialScarce, hard to come by.

    I grew up in a poor neighborhood; money was very tight, but we made do.

  5. 5

    informalIntimate, close, close-knit, intimately friendly.

    We've grown tighter over the years.

  6. 6

    derogatoryslangMiserly or frugal.

    He's a bit tight with his money.

  7. 7

    slangShort of money.

  8. 8

    Narrow, such that it is difficult for something or someone to pass through it.

    The passageway was so tight we could barely get through.

adverb

  1. 1

    Firmly, so as not to come loose easily.

    Hold on tight to the rope.

  2. 2

    Soundly.

    Good night, sleep tight.

verb

  1. 1

    obsoleteTo make tight; tighten.

  2. 2

    obsoleteTo make water-tight.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Tight in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Germanknapp, eng (firmly held together), dicht (pushed/pulled together), fest (firmly)
Frenchserré, tendu (pushed/pulled together), bien, fermement (firmly), moulant (fitting close, or too close, to the body – see…), ivre (slang: intoxicated or drunk)
Portugueseapertado, justo (pushed/pulled together)
Spanishapretado, ajustado (pushed/pulled together), tensado, tensionado, tenso (under high tension – see also taut)

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 tight come from?

From Middle English tight, tyght, tyȝt, tiht, variants of thight, thiht, from Old English *þiht, *þīht (attested in meteþiht), from Proto-West Germanic *þį̄ht(ī), from Proto-Germanic *þinhtaz, from Proto-Indo-European *tenkt- (“dense, thick, tight”), from Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch, pull”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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