awesome
awe·some/ˈɔːsəm/adjective, noun
awesome is spelled A-W-E-S-O-M-E, 2 syllables: awe·some. The wrong spelling people search most is awsome: about 800 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 12 of all searches for the word. Awesome is an adjective meaning “Causing awe or terror; inspiring wonder or excitement”.
How many letters and syllables are in awesome?
| Letters | 7: A-W-E-S-O-M-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: awe·some |
| In writing | 83 times per million words; the 1,272nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, awsome, about 800 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell awesome?
Awesome is spelled A-W-E-S-O-M-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 12 of the searches for awesome in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is awesome?
Awesome appears 83 times per million words in written English, the 1,272nd 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 awesome?
- UK /ˈɔːsəm/
- British /ˈoːsəm/
- /ˈɔ.səm/
Awesome has 2 syllables, split awe·some in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-awesome.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of awesome
- more awesome comparative
- awesomer comparative
- most awesome superlative
- awesomest superlative
- orsum
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does awesome mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Causing awe or terror; inspiring wonder or excitement.
The waterfall in the middle of the rainforest was an awesome sight.
- 2
AustraliaCanadaUScolloquialExcellent, exciting, remarkable.
That was awesome!
noun
- 1
slangClipping of awesomeness (“the quality, state, or essence of being awesome”).
pure awesome
- 2
informalA person who is awesome.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Awesome in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | impressionnant, terrifiant , magnifique, génial, formidable, épatant |
| German | beängstigend, furchteinflößend, fürchterlich, furchterregend, schrecklich , großartig |
| Portuguese | apavorante, aterrador , incrível |
| Spanish | asombroso , piola, paja, mostro, pulenta, pulento |
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 awesome come from?
From awe + -some; compare earlier awful and Middle English eiful (“inducing fright or terror, terrible”), from Old English eġeful (“fearful; inspiring awe”). The oldest meaning of awesome is of “something which inspires awe”, but the word is now also a common colloquial expression. It was originally so used in the United States, where it had featured strikingly in the 1970 film Tora! Tora! Tora!, as used by Japan's Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto to describe the "awesome" industrial potential of the United States.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).