Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

public

/ˈpʌb.lɪk/

Word Rarity Common

Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.57 in modern English

Syllables
publ-ic
IPA
/ˈpʌb.lɪk/
12
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Able to be known or seen by everyone; happening without concealment; open to general view.

adj

Of an object: accessible to the program in general, not only to a class or subclass.

Example Sentences

Etymology

The adjective and noun are derived from Late Middle English publik, publike (“(adjective) generally observable, public; relating to the general public or public affairs; (noun) a generally observable place or situation”), from Anglo-Norman public, publik, publique, Middle French public, publique, and Old French public (“(adjective) generally observable, public; relating to the general public; official; (noun) community or its members collectively; nation, state; audience, spectators collectively”) (modern French public, publique (obsolete)); and from their etymon Latin pūblicus (“of or belonging to the community, people, or state; general, public”), an alteration of poplicus (influenced by pūbēs (“adult men; male population”)), from poplus (“community; the people, public; nation, state”) (later populus; from Proto-Italic *poplos (“army”); further origin uncertain, possibly from Etruscan or from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- (“to fill”)) + -icus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’). Related to people, populus, etc. The Middle English word displaced native Old English ceorlfolc and folclic. The verb is derived from the adjective.

Origin

Word Breakdown

  • Root: *pleh₁-, publik, public, pūblicus, *poplos, -

Regional Pronunciation

  • American English: /ˈpʌb.lɪk/
  • British English: /ˈpʌb.lɪk/

Usage

Inflected Forms

more public (comparative) most public (superlative) publick (alternative) publicke (alternative) publike (alternative) publique (alternative) publics (plural) publics (present, singular) publicking (participle, present) publicked (participle, past) publicked (past)

Derived Forms

Phrases

Frequently Paired Words

Synonyms

Antonyms

Rhymes With

Questions

How do you pronounce public?
The recorded pronunciation is /ˈpʌb.lɪk/.
What does public mean?
Able to be known or seen by everyone; happening without concealment; open to general view.
Where does public come from?
It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce public

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