deceitful
/dɪˈsiːtfʊl/adjective
deceitful is spelled D-E-C-E-I-T-F-U-L: 9 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 30,017th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, deceitful means “Deliberately misleading or cheating” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in deceitful?
| Letters | 9: D-E-C-E-I-T-F-U-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 30,017th 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 deceitful?
Deceitful appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 30,017th 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 deceitful?
- UK /dɪˈsiːtfʊl/
- UK /-fl̩/
Deceitful 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-deceitful.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of deceitful
- more deceitful comparative
- most deceitful superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does deceitful mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Deliberately misleading or cheating.
- 2
Deceptive, two-faced.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Deceitful in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense deliberately misleading or cheating:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | trompeur, tricheur |
| German | trügerisch |
| Portuguese | enganador, trapaceiro |
| Spanish | delusorio, embustero, cubero |
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 deceitful come from?
From deceit + -ful.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).