discouraging
/dɪsˈkɝ.ɪ.d͡ʒɪŋ/adjective, noun, verb
discouraging is spelled D-I-S-C-O-U-R-A-G-I-N-G: 12 letters and 4 syllables. It appears 1.7 times per million words in written English, the 21,798th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, discouraging means “That causes discouragement” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in discouraging?
| Letters | 12: D-I-S-C-O-U-R-A-G-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.7 times per million words; the 21,798th 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 discouraging?
Discouraging appears 1.7 times per million words in written English, the 21,798th 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 discouraging?
- UK /dɪsˈkʌɹ.ɪ.d͡ʒɪŋ/
- US /dɪsˈkɝ.ɪ.d͡ʒɪŋ/
Discouraging has 4 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-discouraging.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of discouraging
- discouragings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does discouraging mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
That causes discouragement.
Near-synonyms: disheartening; see also Thesaurus:disheartening
noun
- 1
discouragement
August 6, 1841, Lydia Ann Barclay, letter to J. B. But, alas! I fear the health of the better part is dwindling instead of increasing, through letting in the enemy's discouragings, and a want of feeling after the daily sap of life, whereby
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of discourage
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Discouraging in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense that causes discouragement:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | décourageant, démotivant |
| Portuguese | desencorajador |
| Spanish | desalentador, descorazonador |
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.