whelm
/ʍɛlm/noun, verb
whelm is spelled W-H-E-L-M: 5 letters. It appears about once in every 50 million words in written English, the 220,118th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, whelm means “A surge of water” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of whelm is whelms.
How many letters and syllables are in whelm?
| Letters | 5: W-H-E-L-M |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 50 million words; the 220,118th 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; 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 whelm?
Whelm appears about once in every 50 million words in written English, the 220,118th 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 whelm?
- US /ʍɛlm/
- US /wɛlm/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-whelm.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with whelm?
4 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as whelm from its last stressed vowel (/ɛlm/):
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 whelm
- whelms present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- whelming participle, present
- whelmed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does whelm mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A surge of water.
the whelm of the tide
- 2
A wooden drainpipe, a hollowed out tree trunk, turned with the cavity downwards to form an arched watercourse.
verb
- 1
colloquialTo emotionally affect at an intensity in between underwhelm and overwhelm; to just satisfy or just meet expectations.
- 2
archaicTo bury, to cover; to engulf, to submerge.
- 3
obsoleteTo throw (something) over a thing so as to cover it.
- 4
obsoleteTo ruin or destroy.
- 5
archaicTo overcome with emotion; to overwhelm.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Whelm in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense to bury, cover; to engulf, submerge:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | submerger |
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 whelm come from?
From Middle English whelmen (“to turn over, capsize; to invert, turn upside down”), perhaps from Old English *hwealmnian, a variant of *hwealfnian, from hwealf (“arched, concave, vaulted; an arched or vaulted ceiling”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwalb, from Proto-Germanic *hwalbą (“arch, vault”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷelp- (“to curve”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).