Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

guest star

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.48 in modern English

Syllables: guest s-tar
IPA

10

Scrabble Score

9

Letters

2

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A guest on a music or other recording.

noun

An actor on a television program who stars in one, or a few, episodes.

verb

Of an actor: to star as a guest.

verb

Of a player: to play as a guest of another team.

noun

A nova or supernova recorded in Chinese astronomy which appeared where no star was known before.

Example Sentences

"The neutering extends to Believe’s guest stars, with warm-and-fuzzy verses from Ludacris (“I love everything about you / You’re imperfectly perfect”), Big Sean (“I don’t know if this makes sense, but you’re my hallelujah”), Nicki Minaj (who at least squeaks a “bitches” into her verse), and especially Drake, whose desire to hug and kiss the object of his affection on “Right Here” is reminiscent of The Red Hot Chili Peppers on Krusty’s Comeback Special."

Etymology

Calque of Literary Chinese 客星 (kèxīng).

Inflected Forms

guest stars (plural) guest-star (alternative) guest stars (present, singular) guest starring (participle, present) guest starred (participle, past) guest starred (past)

Questions

What does guest star mean?: A guest on a music or other recording.
Where does guest star come from?: Calque of Literary Chinese 客星 (kèxīng).

How to pronounce guest star

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