urea
/jʊˈɹiə/noun
urea is spelled U-R-E-A: 4 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 35,320th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, urea means “A water-soluble organic compound, CO(NH₂)₂, formed by the metabolism of proteins and excreted in the urine” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of urea is ureas.
How many letters and syllables are in urea?
| Letters | 4: U-R-E-A |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 35,320th 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 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 urea?
Urea appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 35,320th 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 urea?
- UK /jʊˈɹiːə/
- UK /ˈjʊəɹɪə/
- US /jʊˈɹiə/
Urea 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)-Vealhurl-urea.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with urea?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as urea from its last stressed vowel (/iə/):
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 urea
- ureas plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does urea mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A water-soluble organic compound, CO(NH₂)₂, formed by the metabolism of proteins and excreted in the urine.
- 2
Any N-substituted derivative of urea, with the general formula (R₁R₂N)CO(NR₃R₄).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Urea in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense organic compound:
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 urea come from?
From New Latin, from French urée, from Ancient Greek οὖρον (oûron, “urine”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).