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PlainSpell

wholesale

/ˈhoʊlseɪl/noun, adjective, adverb, verb

wholesale is spelled W-H-O-L-E-S-A-L-E: 9 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 9.3 times per million words in written English, the 7,445th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, wholesale means “The sale of products, often in large quantities, to retailers or other merchants” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of wholesale is wholesales.

How many letters and syllables are in wholesale?

Letters9: W-H-O-L-E-S-A-L-E
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing9.3 times per million words; the 7,445th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 wholesale?

Wholesale appears 9.3 times per million words in written English, the 7,445th 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 wholesale?

  • /ˈhoʊlseɪl/

Wholesale has 2 syllables (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-wholesale.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of wholesale

  • wholesales plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • more wholesale comparative
  • most wholesale superlative
  • wholesaling participle, present
  • wholesaled participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does wholesale mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The sale of products, often in large quantities, to retailers or other merchants.

adjective

  1. 1

    Of or relating to sale in large quantities, for resale.

  2. 2

    Extensive, indiscriminate, all-encompassing; blanket.

    The bombing resulted in wholesale destruction.

adverb

  1. 1

    In bulk or large quantity.

  2. 2

    Indiscriminately.

verb

  1. 1

    To sell at wholesale.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate wholesale?

Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of wholesale: whsle, whsle..

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Wholesale in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchvente en gros (sale of products, often in large quantities, to…), en gros (of or relating to sale in bulk or large quantity)
GermanGroßhandel (sale of products, often in large quantities, to…), Großhandels- (of or relating to sale in bulk or large quantity)
Portugueseatacado (sale of products, often in large quantities, to…)
Spanishventa al por mayor, mayoreo (sale of products, often in large quantities, to…), al por mayor, por junto (in bulk or large quantity)

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 wholesale come from?

From whole + sale.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after wholesale