capricious
/kəˈpɹɪʃəs/adjective
capricious is spelled C-A-P-R-I-C-I-O-U-S: 10 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 37,459th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, capricious means “Impulsive and unpredictable; determined by chance, impulse, or whim” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in capricious?
| Letters | 10: C-A-P-R-I-C-I-O-U-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 37,459th 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 capricious?
Capricious appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 37,459th 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 capricious?
- /kəˈpɹɪʃəs/
- /kəˈpɹiʃəs/
Capricious 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-capricious.wav, En-us-capricious.oga, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of capricious
- more capricious comparative
- most capricious superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does capricious mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Impulsive and unpredictable; determined by chance, impulse, or whim.
I almost died in a capricious winter storm.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Capricious in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense impulsive and unpredictable; determined by chance, impulse, or whim:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | capricieux |
| German | kapriziös, launenhaft, unberechenbar, schrullig, launisch |
| Portuguese | impulsivo, imprevisível, caprichoso |
| Spanish | caprichoso, antojadizo |
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 capricious come from?
Borrowed from Middle French capricieux, from Italian capriccioso, from capriccio. By surface analysis, caprice + -ious.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).