tuna
/ˈtjuː.nə/noun
tuna is spelled T-U-N-A: 4 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 4.4 times per million words in written English, the 12,216th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, tuna means “Any of several species of fish of the genus Thunnus in the family Scombridae” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of tuna is tunas.
How many letters and syllables are in tuna?
| Letters | 4: T-U-N-A |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 4.4 times per million words; the 12,216th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like | |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is tuna?
Tuna appears 4.4 times per million words in written English, the 12,216th 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 tuna?
- /ˈtjuː.nə/
- /ˈtʃuː.nə/
- /ˈtu.nə/
Tuna has 2 syllables (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-tuna.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with tuna
Sounds like: tuner (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with tuna?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as tuna.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: aunt, tuan.
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 tuna
- tunas plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does tuna mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Any of several species of fish of the genus Thunnus in the family Scombridae.
- 2
The edible flesh of the tuna.
- 3
The prickly pear, a type of cactus native to Mexico in the genus Opuntia.
- 4
The fruit of the cactus.
- 5
slangSomeone who is seen as socially successful despite not being a gang member.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Tuna in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
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 tuna come from?
Borrowed from United States Spanish tuna, alteration of Spanish atún, from Arabic اَلتُّنّ (at-tunn, “tuna”), from Latin thunnus, itself from Ancient Greek θύννος (thúnnos). Possibly in the sense of "darter" from thynein "to dart along". Doublet of tonno.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).