undersecretary
noun
undersecretary is spelled U-N-D-E-R-S-E-C-R-E-T-A-R-Y: 14 letters and 6 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 36,176th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, undersecretary means “An administrator immediately subordinate to a head of a government department or to a member of a cabinet” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of undersecretary is undersecretaries.
How many letters and syllables are in undersecretary?
| Letters | 14: U-N-D-E-R-S-E-C-R-E-T-A-R-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 6 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 36,176th 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 undersecretary?
Undersecretary appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 36,176th 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 undersecretary?
- US
Undersecretary has 6 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-undersecretary.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of undersecretary
- undersecretaries plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does undersecretary mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An administrator immediately subordinate to a head of a government department or to a member of a cabinet
- 2
An assistant or deputy secretary of a government department
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate undersecretary?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of undersecretary: Usec.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Undersecretary in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense an administrator immediately subordinate to a head of a government department or:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | sous-secrétaire |
| Spanish | subsecretario |
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 undersecretary come from?
From under- + secretary.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).