diabolical
[ˌdaɪəˈbɑlɪkəɫ]adjective
diabolical is spelled D-I-A-B-O-L-I-C-A-L. The wrong spelling people search most is diablical: about 10 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 417 of all searches for the word. Diabolical is an adjective meaning “Of or concerning the devil: devilish, satanic”.
How many letters and syllables are in diabolical?
| Letters | 10: D-I-A-B-O-L-I-C-A-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 5 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 30,418th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, diablical, about 10 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell diabolical?
Diabolical is spelled D-I-A-B-O-L-I-C-A-L. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 412 of the searches for diabolical in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is diabolical?
Diabolical appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 30,418th 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 diabolical?
- UK [ˌdaɪəˈbɒlɪkəɫ]
- US [ˌdaɪəˈbɑlɪkəɫ]
Diabolical has 5 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-diabolical.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of diabolical
- more diabolical comparative
- most diabolical superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does diabolical mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Of or concerning the devil: devilish, satanic.
- 2
Extremely wicked or cruel.
a diabolical plan
- 3
slang(Devilishly) cunning or devious.
- 4
slangCrazy, wild (sometimes especially due to being unexpected or surprising).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Diabolical in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense Of, or concerning the devil; satanic:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Spanish | diabólico |
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 diabolical come from?
From diabolic + -al.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).