Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

three-letter agency

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.58 in modern English

Syllables
three--let-ter a-gen-cy
IPA
26
Scrabble Score
17
Letters
6
Syllables
10
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Any intelligence agency of the United States federal government.

American usage; Humorous

noun

Any intelligence agency, regardless of nationality or allegiance.

American usage; Humorous

Etymology

From the initialisms of major intelligence agencies in the United States, such as the CIA, FBI and NSA.

Usage

Inflected Forms

three-letter agencies (plural) three letter agency (alternative)

Questions

What does three-letter agency mean?
Any intelligence agency of the United States federal government.
Where does three-letter agency come from?
From the initialisms of major intelligence agencies in the United States, such as the CIA, FBI and NSA.

How to pronounce three-letter agency

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “three-letter agency”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “three-letter agency”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “three-letter agency” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.