dutiful
adjective
dutiful is spelled D-U-T-I-F-U-L: 7 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 45,363rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, dutiful means “Accepting of one's legal or moral obligations and willing to do them well, and without complaint” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in dutiful?
| Letters | 7: D-U-T-I-F-U-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 45,363rd 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 dutiful?
Dutiful appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 45,363rd 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 dutiful?
Dutiful 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)-Fae7-dutiful.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of dutiful
- more dutiful comparative
- most dutiful superlative
- dutifull
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does dutiful mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Accepting of one's legal or moral obligations and willing to do them well, and without complaint.
Ralph was a dutiful child, and took the trash out without being told.
- 2
Pertaining to one's duty; demonstrative of one's sense of duty.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Dutiful in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense accepting of one's obligations:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | dévoué |
| German | pflichtbewusst, pflichtgetreu |
| Portuguese | obediente, submisso |
| Spanish | obediente |
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 dutiful come from?
From duty + -ful.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).