whippoorwill
whip·poor·will/ˈʍɪp.ɚˌwɪl/noun
whippoorwill is spelled W-H-I-P-P-O-O-R-W-I-L-L: 12 letters and 3 syllables (whip·poor·will). It appears about once in every 18 million words in written English, the 128,787th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, whippoorwill means “A nocturnal insectivorous bird of North America (Antrostomus vociferus, syn. Caprimulgus vociferus), a type of nightjar, named after its…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of whippoorwill is whippoorwills.
How many letters and syllables are in whippoorwill?
| Letters | 12: W-H-I-P-P-O-O-R-W-I-L-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: whip·poor·will |
| In writing | about once in every 18 million words; the 128,787th 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 whippoorwill?
Whippoorwill appears about once in every 18 million words in written English, the 128,787th 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 whippoorwill?
- US /ˈʍɪp.ɚˌwɪl/
- US /ˈwɪp.ɚˌwɪl/
- UK /ˈwɪp.əˌwɪl/
Whippoorwill has 3 syllables, split whip·poor·will in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-whippoorwill.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of whippoorwill
- whippoorwills plural
- whip-poor-will
- whippowill
- whip-o-will
- whip-o'-will
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does whippoorwill mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A nocturnal insectivorous bird of North America (Antrostomus vociferus, syn. Caprimulgus vociferus), a type of nightjar, named after its characteristic call.
- 2
The distinctive call of the above bird.
The bird sang his whippoorwills all night.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Whippoorwill in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense bird:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | bois-pourri |
| German | Schwarzkehl-Nachtschwalbe |
| Spanish | cuerporruín |
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 whippoorwill come from?
Imitative of its note.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).