Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

halloween

/ˌhæ.ləˈwiːn/

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.16 in modern English

Syllables: Hal-low-een
IPA: /ˌhæ.ləˈwiːn/

15

Scrabble Score

9

Letters

3

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

name

The eve of All Hallows' Day; October 31st; celebrated (mostly in English-speaking countries) by children going door-to-door in costume and soliciting candy with menaces.

Example Sentences

"They all get dressed up in scary costumes at Halloween."
"1987, Kai Hansen, "Halloween", Helloween, Keeper Of The Seven Keys: Part 1. Black is the night full of fright / You'll be missing the day / What will be here very soon / Changing your way / A knock at your door / It is real or is it a dream / On trembling legs you open the door / And you scream... on Halloween"

Etymology

From a Scots shortening of Allhalloweven, from Allhallowmas (the obsolete earlier name of All Saints' Day) + even (an archaic or poetic variant of eve; see also een). For the American pronunciation with /ɑ/, compare the Southern English traditional dialect pronunciations fallow /ˈfɒ.lə/ and tallow /ˈtɒ.lə/.

Word Breakdown

Root: -

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˌhæ.ləˈwiːn/
British English: /ˌha.ləˈwiːn/

Inflected Forms

Halloweens (plural) Hallowe'en (alternative) Halloweven (alternative, archaic)

Derived Forms

Halloweek Halloweekend Halloweener Slutoween Summerween

Phrases

anti-Halloween Halloween crab All Hallows' Day Reformation Sunday spooky season trick-or-treat trick or treat

Frequently Paired Words

All Hallows' Day Reformation Sunday Samhain spooky season trick-or-treat trick or treat

Synonyms

hallowe'en allhallows eve

Rhymes With

between mean seen green clean scene machine queen screen marine dean routine

Questions

How do you pronounce halloween?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˌhæ.ləˈwiːn/.
What does halloween mean?: The eve of All Hallows' Day; October 31st; celebrated (mostly in English-speaking countries) by children going door-to-door in costume and soliciting candy with menaces.
Where does halloween come from?: From a Scots shortening of Allhalloweven, from Allhallowmas (the obsolete earlier name of All Saints' Day) + even (an archaic or poetic variant of eve; see also een). For the American pronunciation with /ɑ/, compare the Southern English traditional dialect pronunciations fallow /ˈfɒ.lə/ and tallow /ˈtɒ.lə/.

How to pronounce halloween

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “halloween”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˌhæ.ləˈwiːn/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
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