whim
/wɪm/noun, verb
whim is spelled W-H-I-M: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.9 times per million words in written English, the 20,101st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, whim means “A fanciful impulse, or sudden change of idea” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of whim is whims.
How many letters and syllables are in whim?
| Letters | 4: W-H-I-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.9 times per million words; the 20,101st 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 whim?
Whim appears 1.9 times per million words in written English, the 20,101st 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 whim?
- /wɪm/
- /ʍɪm/
Whim 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-whim.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of whim
- whims plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- whimming participle, present
- whimmed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does whim mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A fanciful impulse, or sudden change of idea.
- 2
A large capstan or vertical drum turned by horse power or steam power, for raising ore or water, etc., from mines, or for other purposes.
- 3
A bird, the Eurasian wigeon.
noun
- 1
Initialism of warm-hot intergalactic medium.
verb
- 1
rareTo be seized with a whim; to be capricious.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Whim in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense fanciful impulse:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | lubie, caprice |
| German | Laune, Grille, Marotte, Kaprize, Verrücktheit, wunderlicher Einfall |
| Portuguese | inspiração, capricho |
| Spanish | capricho, ventolera, antojo |
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 whim come from?
Clipping of whim-wham.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).