traffic
traf·fic/ˈtɹæfɪk/noun, verb, adjective
traffic is spelled T-R-A-F-F-I-C: 7 letters and 2 syllables (traf·fic). It appears 71 times per million words in written English, the 1,486th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, traffic means “Moving pedestrians or vehicles, or the flux or passage thereof” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of traffic is traffics.
How many letters and syllables are in traffic?
| Letters | 7: T-R-A-F-F-I-C |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: traf·fic |
| In writing | 71 times per million words; the 1,486th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is traffic?
Traffic appears 71 times per million words in written English, the 1,486th 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 traffic?
- US /ˈtɹæfɪk/
Traffic has 2 syllables, split traf·fic in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-traffic.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with traffic?
8 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as traffic from its last stressed vowel (/æfɪk/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of traffic
- traffics plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- traffick
- traffique
- trafficking participle, present
- trafficked participle, past
- more traffic comparative
- most traffic superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does traffic mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Moving pedestrians or vehicles, or the flux or passage thereof.
The traffic is slow during rush hour.
- 2
The commercial transportation or exchange of goods, or the movement of passengers or people.
- 3
A flow of customers for a store or restaurant.
Sales are down due to a decline in store traffic.
- 4
The illegal trade or exchange of goods, often drugs.
- 5
The exchange or flux of information, messages or data, as in a computer or telephone network.
- 6
Of CB radio, formal written messages relayed on behalf of others.
- 7
The amount of attention paid to a particular printed page etc., in a publication.
Those fixed locations which are sold to advertisers become preferred according to the expected page traffic.
- 8
The commodities of the market.
verb
- 1
To pass goods and commodities from one person to another for an equivalent in goods or money; to buy or sell goods.
- 2
To trade meanly or mercenarily; to bargain.
- 3
To exchange in traffic; to effect by a bargain or for a consideration.
adjective
- 1
Congested.
It’s super traffic here in Manila.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate traffic?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of traffic: traf.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Traffic in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | circulation, trafic , traite |
| German | Verkehr, Personenverkehr , Warenverkehr , Datenverkehr |
| Portuguese | tráfego, trânsito , trata, tráfico |
| Spanish | tráfico, tránsito, circulación , trata , traficar |
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 traffic come from?
From Middle French trafique, traffique (“traffic”), from Italian traffico (“traffic”) from trafficare (“to carry on trade”). Potentially from Vulgar Latin *trānsfrīcāre (“to rub across”); Klein instead suggests the Italian has ultimate origin in Arabic تَفْرِيق (tafrīq, “distribution, dispersion”), reshaped to match the native prefix tra- (“trans-”). The adjectival sense is possibly influenced by Tagalog trapik and follows a general trend in Philippine English to construct a noun from an adjective.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).