veil
/veɪl/noun, verb
veil is spelled V-E-I-L: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 4.6 times per million words in written English, the 11,870th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “vail vs veil” about 320 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, veil means “Something hung up or spread out to hide or protect the face, or hide an object from view; usually of gauze, crepe, or similar diaphanous material” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of veil is veils.
How many letters and syllables are in veil?
| Letters | 4: V-E-I-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 4.6 times per million words; the 11,870th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with | |
| 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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is veil?
Veil appears 4.6 times per million words in written English, the 11,870th 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 veil?
- US /veɪl/
Veil has one syllable (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-veil.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with veil
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: vail, vale (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Also written: vail.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with veil?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as veil from its last stressed vowel (/eɪl/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: live, evil, vile, vlei.
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 veil
- veils plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- veiling participle, present
- veiled participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does veil mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Something hung up or spread out to hide or protect the face, or hide an object from view; usually of gauze, crepe, or similar diaphanous material.
- 2
Anything that partially obscures a clear view.
- 3
A cover; disguise; a mask; a pretense.
- 4
A covering for a person or thing; as, a caul (especially over the head)
a nun's veil
- 5
The calyptra of mosses.
- 6
velum (A circular membrane round the cap of a medusa).
- 7
A thin layer of tissue which is attached to or covers a mushroom.
- 8
A membrane connecting the margin of the pileus of a mushroom with the stalk; a velum.
verb
- 1
To dress in, or decorate with, a veil.
- 2
To conceal as with a veil.
The forest fire was veiled by smoke, but I could hear it clearly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Veil in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | voile , voiler |
| German | Vorhang , verschleiern, verhüllen , Schleier |
| Portuguese | véu , velar |
| Spanish | velo , velete , velar |
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 veil come from?
From Middle English veil, veyl, from Anglo-Norman and Old Northern French veil (“sail, veil, shroud”) (Francien Old French voil, French voile), Latin vēlum (“cloth, covering”). Displaced Middle English scleire, scleyre, sleyre, slyre (“veil”) (compare German Schleier). Doublet of velum and voile.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).