Count syllables in an English word.

• What is this?
• When should I use this?
• Install
• Use
• API
  • syllable(value)
• CLI
• Types
• Compatibility
• Related
• Contribute
• Security
• Notice
• License

This package estimates how many syllables are in an English word.

Use this when you want to do fun things with natural language, like rhyming, detecting reading ease, etc.

This package is ESM only. In Node.js (version 14.14+, 16.0+), install with npm:

npm install syllable

In Deno with esm.sh:

import {syllable} from 'https://esm.sh/syllable@5'

In browsers with esm.sh:

<script type="module">
  import {syllable} from 'https://esm.sh/syllable@5?bundle'
</script>

import {syllable} from 'syllable'

syllable('syllable') // 3
syllable('unicorn') // 3
syllable('hi') // 1
syllable('hihi') // 2
syllable('mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm') // 1
syllable('wine') // 1
syllable('bottle') // 2
syllable('wine-bottle') // 3
syllable('Åland') // 2

This package exports the identifier syllable. There is no default export.

Get the number of syllables in value.

Value to check (string, required).

Syllables in value (number).

Usage: syllable [options] <words...>

Count syllables in English words

Options:

  -h, --help           output usage information
  -v, --version        output version number

Usage:

# output syllables
$ syllable syllable unicorn
# 6

# output syllables from stdin
$ echo "syllable unicorn banana" | syllable
# 9

This package is fully typed with TypeScript. It exports no additional types.

This package is at least compatible with all maintained versions of Node.js. As of now, that is Node.js 14.14+ and 16.0+. It also works in Deno and modern browsers.

• automated-readability — formula to detect ease of reading according to the Automated Readability Index (1967)
• buzzwords — list of buzzwords
• coleman-liau — formula to detect the ease of reading a text according to the Coleman-Liau index (1975)
• cuss — map of profane words to a rating of sureness
• dale-chall — list of easy American-English words: The New Dale-Chall (1995)
• dale-chall-formula — formula to find the grade level according to the (revised) Dale–Chall Readability Formula (1995)
• fillers — list of filler words
• flesch — formula to detect the ease of reading a text according to Flesch Reading Ease (1975)
• flesch-kincaid — formula to detect the grade level of text according to Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level (1975)
• gunning-fog — formula to detect the ease of reading a text according to the Gunning fog index (1952)
• hedges — list of hedge words
• profanities — list of profane words
• smog-formula — formula to detect the ease of reading a text according to the SMOG (Simple Measure of Gobbledygook) formula (1969)
• spache — list of familiar American-English words (1974)
• spache-formula — uses a dictionary, suited for lower reading levels
• weasels — formula to detect the grade level of text according to the (revised) Spache Readability Formula (1974)

Yes please! See How to Contribute to Open Source.

This package is safe.

Based on the syllable functionality found in Text-Statistics (PHP), in turn inspired by Lingua::EN::Syllable (Perl).

Support for word-breaks, non-ASCII characters, and many fixes added later.

MIT © Titus Wormer