truant
tru·ant/ˈtɹuənt/adjective, noun, verb
truant is spelled T-R-U-A-N-T: 6 letters and 2 syllables (tru·ant). It appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 57,423rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, truant means “Shirking or wandering from business or duty; straying; hence, idle; loitering” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in truant?
| Letters | 6: T-R-U-A-N-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: tru·ant |
| In writing | about once in every 4 million words; the 57,423rd 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 truant?
Truant appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 57,423rd 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 truant?
- UK /ˈtɹuːənt/
- US /ˈtɹuənt/
Truant has 2 syllables, split tru·ant in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-truant.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with truant?
2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as truant from its last stressed vowel (/uənt/):
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 truant
- truants plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- truanting participle, present
- truanted participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does truant mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Shirking or wandering from business or duty; straying; hence, idle; loitering.
- 2
Of a student: absent from school without permission.
He didn’t graduate because he was chronically truant and didn’t have enough attendances to meet the requirement.
- 3
obsoleteHaving no real substance; unimportant, vain, worthless.
noun
- 1
An idle or lazy person; an idler.
- 2
A student who is absent from school without permission; hence (figurative), a person who shirks or wanders from business or duty.
- 3
obsoleteSynonym of sturdy beggar (“a person who was fit and able to work, but lived as a beggar or vagrant instead”); hence, a worthless person; a rogue, a scoundrel.
verb
- 1
Also used with the impersonal pronoun it (dated): to shirk or wander from business or duty; (specifically) of a student: to be absent from school without permission; to play truant.
The number of schoolchildren known to have truanted from this school has been unusually high.
- 2
obsoleteTo idle away or waste (time).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Truant in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | herumgammelnd, herumhängend, herumlungernd , am Schwänzen, schulschwänzend , Schwänzer |
| Portuguese | gazeteiro |
| Spanish | absentista , novillero, novillera |
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.