badness
/ˈbæd.nəs/noun
badness is spelled B-A-D-N-E-S-S: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 54,808th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, badness means “The quality or degree of being bad” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of badness is badnesses.
How many letters and syllables are in badness?
| Letters | 7: B-A-D-N-E-S-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 3 million words; the 54,808th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is badness?
Badness appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 54,808th 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 badness?
- /ˈbæd.nəs/
Badness has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-badness.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of badness
- badnesses plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does badness mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The quality or degree of being bad.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Badness in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense the quality of being bad:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | Schlechtigkeit |
| Portuguese | ruindade, maldade |
| Spanish | maldad |
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 badness come from?
From Middle English baddenes, badnes, badnesse; equivalent to bad + -ness.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).