encourage
en·cour·age/ɪnˈkʌɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/verb
encourage is spelled E-N-C-O-U-R-A-G-E: 9 letters and 3 syllables (en·cour·age). It appears 28 times per million words in written English, the 3,288th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, encourage means “To mentally support; to motivate, give courage, hope or spirit” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in encourage?
| Letters | 9: E-N-C-O-U-R-A-G-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: en·cour·age |
| In writing | 28 times per million words; the 3,288th 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 encourage?
Encourage appears 28 times per million words in written English, the 3,288th 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 encourage?
- /ɪnˈkʌɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/
- /ɪnˈkɝ.ɪd͡ʒ/
- /ɪnˈkʊ.ɹɪd͡ʒ/
Encourage has 3 syllables, split en·cour·age in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-encourage.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of encourage
- encourages present, singular, he/she/it
- encouraging participle, present
- encouraged participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does encourage mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To mentally support; to motivate, give courage, hope or spirit.
I encouraged him during his race.
- 2
To spur on, strongly recommend.
We encourage the use of bicycles in the town centre.
- 3
To foster, give help or patronage.
The royal family has always encouraged the arts in word and deed.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Encourage in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | encourager |
| German | ermutigen, ermuntern , empfehlen |
| Portuguese | encorajar, incentivar , recomendar |
| Spanish | alentar, arengar, suscitar, encorajar |
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 encourage come from?
From Middle English encouragen, encoragen, from Anglo-Norman encoragier, from Old French encoragier. Displaced native Old English hiertan, tyhtan, and trymman. By surface analysis, en- + courage.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).