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affront

af·front/əˈfrənt/verb, noun

affront is spelled A-F-F-R-O-N-T: 7 letters and 2 syllables (af·front). It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 33,236th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, affront means “To insult intentionally, especially openly” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in affront?

Letters7: A-F-F-R-O-N-T
Syllables2: af·front
In writingabout once in every 1 million words; the 33,236th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is affront?

Affront appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 33,236th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce affront?

  • /əˈfɹʌnt/
  • US /əˈfrənt/
  • /əˈfɹʊnt/

Affront has 2 syllables, split af·front in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-affront.wav, En-au-affront.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of affront

  • affronts present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • affronting participle, present
  • affronted participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does affront mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To insult intentionally, especially openly.

  2. 2

    To be an affront to; offend.

  3. 3

    To meet defiantly; to confront.

    to affront death

  4. 4

    obsoleteTo meet or encounter face to face.

noun

  1. 1

    An open or intentional offense, slight, or insult.

    Such behavior is an affront to society.

  2. 2

    obsoleteA hostile encounter or meeting.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Affront in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchdéfier, jeter le gant, envoyer un cartel (1. to insult intentionally, especially openly), se confronter (3. to meet defiantly; confront), rencontrer sur le terrain, aller sur le pré (4. to meet or encounter face to face)
Germanbeleidigen (1. to insult intentionally, especially openly), Affront (open or intentional offense, slight, or insult)
Portugueseafrontar (1. to insult intentionally, especially openly), encarar (3. to meet defiantly; confront), afronta (open or intentional offense, slight, or insult)
Spanishafrentar, afrontar (1. to insult intentionally, especially openly), afrenta, afruenta (disused), baldón (open or intentional offense, slight, or insult)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does affront come from?

From Middle English afrounten, from Old French afronter (“to hit in the face; to defy”), from Vulgar Latin *affrontare (“to hit in the face”), from Latin ad (“to”) + frōns (“forehead”) (English front). By surface analysis, af- + front.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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