Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

skelter

/skˈɛltɚ/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.50 in modern English

Syllables: skel-ter
IPA: /skˈɛltɚ/

11

Scrabble Score

7

Letters

2

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A gravity-based device used to store and rotate round food and drink in a first-in-first-out manner.

verb

To run off helter-skelter; to hurry; to scurry.

Colloquial

Example Sentences

"After collecting them each day from the chicken coop, she put the eggs in her skelter until she needed them."
"It was evident that Europeans seldom came here, for numbers of women skeltered away as I walked through the village and one girl about ten or twelve years old, who had just brought a bamboo full of water from the river, threw it down with a cry of horror and alarm the moment she caught sight of me, turned around and jumped into the stream."

Etymology

Compare helter-skelter.

Usage

Colloquial

Inflected Forms

skelters (plural) skelters (present, singular) skeltering (participle, present) skeltered (participle, past) skeltered (past)

Rhymes With

shelter smelter helter welter belter helter-skelter stelter swelter felter kelter

Questions

How do you pronounce skelter?: The recorded pronunciation is /skˈɛltɚ/.
What does skelter mean?: A gravity-based device used to store and rotate round food and drink in a first-in-first-out manner.
Where does skelter come from?: Compare helter-skelter.

How to pronounce skelter

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