bestial
/ˈbɛs.t͡ʃəl/adjective
bestial is spelled B-E-S-T-I-A-L: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 60,074th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, bestial means “Beast-like” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in bestial?
| Letters | 7: B-E-S-T-I-A-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 4 million words; the 60,074th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is bestial?
Bestial appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 60,074th 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 bestial?
- UK /ˈbɛs.ti.əl/
- US /ˈbɛs.t͡ʃəl/
- US /ˈbis.t͡ʃəl/
Bestial 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-bestial.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with bestial?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as bestial (/ɛstʃəl/).
Spelled with the same letters in another order: ableist, stabile, astilbe.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of bestial
- more bestial comparative
- most bestial superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does bestial mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Beast-like.
noun
- 1
ScotlandobsoleteCattle.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Bestial in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense beast-like:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | tierisch |
| Portuguese | bestial |
| Spanish | bestial, animalesco |
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 bestial come from?
From Middle English bestial, from Old French bestial, from Late Latin bēstiālis, from Latin bēstia (“beast”) (whence English beast).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).