wild
/ˈwaɪ̯ld/adjective, adverb, noun, verb
wild is spelled W-I-L-D. The wrong spelling people search most is weild: about 420 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 32 of all searches for the word. Wild is an adjective meaning “Especially, being of the wild type: being of an unbroken ancestral line of undomesticated animals, as opposed…”.
How many letters and syllables are in wild?
| Letters | 4: W-I-L-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | 63 times per million words; the 1,668th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, weild, about 420 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell wild?
Wild is spelled W-I-L-D. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 32 of the searches for wild in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is wild?
Wild appears 63 times per million words in written English, the 1,668th 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 wild?
- /ˈwaɪ̯ld/
- [ˈwaɪ̯ld]
- /ˈwaːld/
Wild has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-wild.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with wild
Also written: weald.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of wild
- wilder comparative
- wildest superlative
- wilds plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- wilding participle, present
- wilded participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does wild mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Especially, being of the wild type: being of an unbroken ancestral line of undomesticated animals, as opposed to being feral, being an undomesticated animal whose ancestors were domesticated.
Near-synonym: indigenous
- 2
Being in the wild, by any pathway (whether by being of the wild type, by being feral since birth, or by being feral after escape from domesticated life).
- 3
From or relating to wild creatures.
wild honey
- 4
Unrestrained or uninhibited.
I was filled with wild rage when I discovered the infidelity, and punched a hole in the wall.
- 5
Raucous, unruly, or licentious.
The fraternity was infamous for its wild parties, which frequently resulted in police involvement.
- 6
Of unregulated and varying frequency.
The aircraft's navigational equipment should not be powered from the wild AC bus except in an emergency, as its computers can be damaged by variations in electrical frequency.
- 7
Visibly and overtly anxious; frantic.
Her mother was wild with fear when she didn't return home after the party.
- 8
Furious; very angry.
adverb
- 1
Inaccurately; not on target.
The javelin flew wild and struck a spectator, to the horror of all observing.
- 2
Intended to be synchronized with film or video but recorded separately.
Let's record it wild.
noun
- 1
The undomesticated state of a wild animal.
After mending the lion's leg, we returned him to the wild.
- 2
A wilderness.
- 3
Something that is able to stand in for others, such as a particular playing card in a game.
- 4
Alternative form of weald.
verb
- 1
slangTo commit random acts of assault, robbery, and rape in an urban setting, especially as a gang.
Now is they wildin with us / And getting rowdy with us.
- 2
slang(In the form wilding or wildin') To act in a strange or unexpected way.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Wild in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | sauvage , déchaîné |
| German | wild |
| Portuguese | selvagem, silvestre, bravio |
| Spanish | salvaje, montaraz , desmadrado , fiero |
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 wild come from?
From Middle English weilde, wield, wielde, wijlde, wild, wilde, wyld, wylde, wyled, wyyld, from Old English wilde, from Proto-West Germanic *wilþī, from Proto-Germanic *wilþijaz (“wild”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁- (“hair; wool”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).