de
Spanish, preposition
de is spelled D-E (2 letters) and appears 64,565 times per million words in written Spanish, the 1st most frequent Spanish word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). De is a Spanish preposition meaning “of; 's; used after the thing owned and before the owner” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With an accent, dé is a different word: “first/third-person singular present subjunctive”. The Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) defines it as “Indica pertenencia”.
What does de mean in English?
noun
- 1
feminineThe name of the Latin script letter D/d.
preposition
- 1
of; 's; used after the thing owned and before the owner
la cola del perro
- 2
from (with the source or provenance of or at)
Soy de España.
- 3
of (expressing composition, substance)
una mesa de madera
- 4
about (concerning; with regard to)
Están hablando del pasado.
- 5
of; from (indicating cause)
Murió de hambre.
- 6
of (indicates a quality or characteristic)
un hombre de fe
- 7
from (with the origin, starting point or initial reference of or at)
el vuelo de Miami a Chicago
- 8
of (indicates the subject or cause of the adjective)
harto de
prefix
- 1
de-
verb
- 1
first/third-person singular present subjunctive
- 2
third-person singular imperative
Source: English Wiktionary, Spanish section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Spanish dictionaries define it
preposition: 1. Indica pertenencia. 2. Indica el contenido de algo. 3. Indica la finalidad o uso. 4. Indica el material con el que confecciona algo.
prefix: 1. Indica descenso, dirección hacia abajo, procedencia. 2. Indica separación, límite. 3. Indica falta de o lo contrario de lo significado por la base 4. Delimita o refuerza lo significado por la base
The definition in the Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario), in Spanish.
Source: Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of de
- des plural
- d' alternative
- d alternative
Source: English Wiktionary and Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to de
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is de in Spanish?
de appears 64,565 times per million words in written Spanish.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).