challenged
chal·lenged/ˈt͡ʃæl.ɪnd͡ʒd/adjective, verb
challenged is spelled C-H-A-L-L-E-N-G-E-D: 10 letters and 2 syllables (chal·lenged). It appears 12 times per million words in written English, the 6,138th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, challenged means “Disabled; lacking some physical or mental attribute or skill; used after adverbs to make politically correct adjectives” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in challenged?
| Letters | 10: C-H-A-L-L-E-N-G-E-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: chal·lenged |
| In writing | 12 times per million words; the 6,138th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is challenged?
Challenged appears 12 times per million words in written English, the 6,138th 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 challenged?
- /ˈt͡ʃæl.ɪnd͡ʒd/
- /ˈt͡ʃæl.ənd͡ʒd/
Challenged has 2 syllables, split chal·lenged in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-challenged.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of challenged
- more challenged comparative
- most challenged superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does challenged mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Disabled; lacking some physical or mental attribute or skill; used after adverbs to make politically correct adjectives.
mentally challenged
- 2
Used following adverbs to make adjectives in imitation of and mocking adjectives of this kind.
He's not short; he's vertically challenged
verb
- 1
simple past and past participle of challenge
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Challenged in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense lacking attribute or skill:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Portuguese | inábil |
| Spanish | discapacitado, dificultado, deficiente, problematizado, con discapacidad, con dificultades |
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.