discourage
dis·cour·age/dɪsˈkɝɪd͡ʒ/verb, noun
discourage is spelled D-I-S-C-O-U-R-A-G-E: 10 letters and 3 syllables (dis·cour·age). It appears 3.7 times per million words in written English, the 13,496th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, discourage means “To extinguish the courage of; to dishearten; to depress the spirits of; to deprive of confidence; to deject” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in discourage?
| Letters | 10: D-I-S-C-O-U-R-A-G-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: dis·cour·age |
| In writing | 3.7 times per million words; the 13,496th 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 discourage?
Discourage appears 3.7 times per million words in written English, the 13,496th 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 discourage?
- UK /dɪsˈkʌɹɪd͡ʒ/
- US /dɪsˈkɝɪd͡ʒ/
Discourage has 3 syllables, split dis·cour·age in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-discourage.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of discourage
- discourages present, singular, he/she/it
- discouraging participle, present
- discouraged participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does discourage mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To extinguish the courage of; to dishearten; to depress the spirits of; to deprive of confidence; to deject.
Don't be discouraged by the amount of work left to do: you'll finish it in good time.
- 2
To persuade somebody not to do (something).
noun
- 1
rareLack of courage
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Discourage in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | décourager , dissuader |
| German | entmutigen, abschrecken , abraten, abraten von, abbringen von |
| Portuguese | desencorajar, desanimar, desalentar , despersuadir, dissuadir |
| Spanish | descorazonar, acobardar, desanimar, deshuevar, desgüevar , desalentar |
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 discourage come from?
From Middle French descourager (modern French décourager), from Old French descouragier, from des- and corage. By surface analysis, dis- + courage.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).