weep
/ˈwiːp/verb, noun
weep is spelled W-E-E-P: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.3 times per million words in written English, the 17,813th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, weep means “To cry; to shed tears, especially when accompanied with sobbing or other difficulty speaking, as an expression of emotion such as sadness or joy” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in weep?
| Letters | 4: W-E-E-P |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | 2.3 times per million words; the 17,813th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is weep?
Weep appears 2.3 times per million words in written English, the 17,813th 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 weep?
- /ˈwiːp/
- [ˈwɪi̯p]
Weep has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-weep.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of weep
- weeps present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- weeping participle, present
- wept participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does weep mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To cry; to shed tears, especially when accompanied with sobbing or other difficulty speaking, as an expression of emotion such as sadness or joy.
- 2
To lament; to complain.
- 3
To produce secretions.
- 4
To flow in drops; to run in drops.
a weeping spring, which discharges water slowly
- 5
To hang the branches, as if in sorrow; to be pendent; to droop; said of a plant or its branches.
- 6
obsoleteTo weep over; to bewail.
noun
- 1
A session of crying.
Sometimes you just have to have a good weep.
- 2
A sob.
- 3
A red or reddish liquid that seeps out from raw muscular meat during storage, consisting mostly of water and protein; "meat juice".
- 4
A lapwing; wipe, especially, a northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Weep in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense to cry, shed tears:
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 weep come from?
From Middle English wepen, from Old English wēpan (“to weep, complain, bewail, mourn over, deplore”), from Proto-West Germanic *wōpijan, from Proto-Germanic *wōpijaną (“to weep”), from Proto-Indo-European *weh₂b- (“to call, cry, complain”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).