effrontery
/ɪˈfɹʌntəɹi/noun
effrontery is spelled E-F-F-R-O-N-T-E-R-Y: 10 letters and 4 syllables. It appears about once in every 11 million words in written English, the 101,613th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, effrontery means “Insolent and shameless audacity” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of effrontery is effronteries.
How many letters and syllables are in effrontery?
| Letters | 10: E-F-F-R-O-N-T-E-R-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 11 million words; the 101,613th 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 effrontery?
Effrontery appears about once in every 11 million words in written English, the 101,613th 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 effrontery?
- /ɪˈfɹʌntəɹi/
- /ɛˈfɹʌntəɹi/
Effrontery 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)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-effrontery.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-effrontery.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of effrontery
- effronteries plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does effrontery mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Insolent and shameless audacity.
We even had the effrontery to suggest that he should leave the country.
- 2
An act of insolent and shameless audacity.
Any refusal to salute the president shall be counted as an effrontery.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Effrontery in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense insolent and shameless audacity:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | effronterie |
| German | Dreistigkeit, Frechheit, Unverschämtheit |
| Portuguese | descaramento, acinte, desfaçatez |
| Spanish | desfachatez, desvergüenza, descaro |
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 effrontery come from?
From late 17th century French effronterie, from effronté (“shameless, insolent”), from Old French esfronté, from Vulgar Latin *exfrontātus. Compare Latin effrōns (“barefaced”), from the prefix ex- (“from”) + frōns (“forehead”) (English: front). By surface analysis, ef- + front + -er + -y.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).