Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

topsoil

/tˈɑpsˌɔɪl/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.55 in modern English

Syllables: top-soil
IPA: /tˈɑpsˌɔɪl/

9

Scrabble Score

7

Letters

2

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

The upper layer of soil, typically most fertile and in which it is the easiest to start new plants.

Countable; Uncountable

verb

To remove the topsoil from.

Transitive verb

Example Sentences

"Little grew on the farm, after the floods from the hurricane washed away the topsoil."
"Without urgent action, the majority of the Earth’s topsoil could be severely degraded or lost before the end of this century. In China, topsoil is being lost fifty-seven times faster than this natural replacement process; in Europe seventeen times faster."

Etymology

From top + soil.

Usage

Inflected Forms

topsoils (plural) top soil (alternative) topsoils (present, singular) topsoiling (participle, present) topsoiled (participle, past) topsoiled (past)

Phrases

garden soil

Frequently Paired Words

garden soil

Synonyms

callow surface soil

Questions

How do you pronounce topsoil?: The recorded pronunciation is /tˈɑpsˌɔɪl/.
What does topsoil mean?: The upper layer of soil, typically most fertile and in which it is the easiest to start new plants.
Where does topsoil come from?: From top + soil.

How to pronounce topsoil

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