Skip to main content
PlainSpell

tract

/tɹækt/noun

tract is spelled T-R-A-C-T: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 5.1 times per million words in written English, the 11,015th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, tract means “An area or expanse” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of tract is tracts.

How many letters and syllables are in tract?

Letters5: T-R-A-C-T
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing5.1 times per million words; the 11,015th 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 tract?

Tract appears 5.1 times per million words in written English, the 11,015th 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 tract?

  • /tɹækt/

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

Forms of tract

  • tracts plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • tracting participle, present
  • tracted participle, past

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

What does tract mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    An area or expanse.

    an unexplored tract of sea

  2. 2

    A series of connected body organs, such as the digestive tract.

  3. 3

    A small booklet such as a pamphlet, often for promotional or informational uses.

  4. 4

    A brief treatise or discourse on a subject.

  5. 5

    A commentator's view or perspective on a subject.

  6. 6

    Continued or protracted duration, length, extent

  7. 7

    Part of the proper of the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist for many Christian denominations, used instead of the alleluia during Lenten or pre-Lenten seasons, in a Requiem Mass, and on a few other penitential occasions.

  8. 8

    obsoleteContinuity or extension of anything.

verb

  1. 1

    obsoleteTo pursue, follow; to track.

  2. 2

    obsoleteTo draw out; to protract.

  3. 3

    obsoleteTo treat, discourse, negotiate.

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

Tract in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
GermanGebiet (area), Trakt (series of connected body organs), Traktat (brief treatise)
Portugueseextensão (area), aparelho (series of connected body organs), tratado (brief treatise), panfleto (small booklet)
Spanishextensión (area), tracto, aparato (series of connected body organs), tratado (brief treatise), folleto (small booklet)
Frenchappareil (series of connected body organs)

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 tract come from?

From Middle English tract, tracte, traht (“a treatise, exposition, commentary”), from Old English traht, tract (“a treatise, exposition, commentary, text, passage”); and also from Middle English tract, tracte (“an expanse of space or time”); both from Latin tractus (“a haul, drawing, a drawing out”), the perfect passive participle of trahō. Doublet of trait.

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

What to look up after tract