underclass
noun
underclass is spelled U-N-D-E-R-C-L-A-S-S: 10 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 45,947th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, underclass means “The poorest class of people in a given society” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of underclass is underclasses.
How many letters and syllables are in underclass?
| Letters | 10: U-N-D-E-R-C-L-A-S-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 45,947th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 underclass?
Underclass appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 45,947th 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 underclass?
- US
Underclass has 3 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Flame,_not_lame-underclass.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of underclass
- underclasses plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does underclass mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The poorest class of people in a given society.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does underclass come from?
From under- + class.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).