topsail
/ˈtɑp.seɪl/noun
topsail is spelled T-O-P-S-A-I-L: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 7 million words in written English, the 76,798th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, topsail means “A sail or either of the two sails rigged just above the course sail and supported by the topmast on a square-rigged sailing ship” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of topsail is topsails.
How many letters and syllables are in topsail?
| Letters | 7: T-O-P-S-A-I-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 7 million words; the 76,798th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is topsail?
Topsail appears about once in every 7 million words in written English, the 76,798th 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 topsail?
- US /ˈtɑp.seɪl/
- US /ˈtɑp.səl/
- UK /ˈtɒp.seɪl/
Topsail has 2 syllables (counted from the pronunciation).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-I_learned_some_phrases-topsail.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of topsail
- topsails plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does topsail mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A sail or either of the two sails rigged just above the course sail and supported by the topmast on a square-rigged sailing ship.
- 2
In a fore-and-aft-rigged sailing boat, the sail that is set above the gaff at the top part of the mast.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Topsail in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense sail above the course sail:
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 topsail come from?
From Middle English topsail, topsayl, topseyle, topsaill, equivalent to top + sail.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).