bitterness
/ˈbɪtənəs/noun
bitterness is spelled B-I-T-T-E-R-N-E-S-S: 10 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 2.8 times per million words in written English, the 16,005th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, bitterness means “The quality of having a bitter taste” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of bitterness is bitternesses.
How many letters and syllables are in bitterness?
| Letters | 10: B-I-T-T-E-R-N-E-S-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.8 times per million words; the 16,005th 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 bitterness?
Bitterness appears 2.8 times per million words in written English, the 16,005th 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 bitterness?
- UK /ˈbɪtənəs/
Bitterness has 3 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-bitterness.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of bitterness
- bitternesses plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does bitterness mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The quality of having a bitter taste.
- 2
The quality of feeling bitter; acrimony, resentment; the quality of exhibiting such feelings.
the bitterness of his words
- 3
The quality of eliciting a bitter, humiliating or harsh feeling.
Nothing could assuage the bitterness of their defeat.
- 4
Harsh cold.
The bitterness of the winter caught us all by surprise.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Bitterness in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | amertume |
| German | Bitterkeit, Bitternis |
| Portuguese | amargura |
| Spanish | amargo, amargura, amargor , acíbar |
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 bitterness come from?
From Middle English bitternesse, biternesse, from Old English biternes (“bitterness; grief”), equivalent to bitter + -ness.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).