encouraging
en·cour·aging/ɪnˈkɝɹɪd͡ʒɪŋ/adjective, noun, verb
encouraging is spelled E-N-C-O-U-R-A-G-I-N-G: 11 letters and 3 syllables (en·cour·aging). It appears 14 times per million words in written English, the 5,679th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, encouraging means “Giving courage, confidence or hope; auspicious” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in encouraging?
| Letters | 11: E-N-C-O-U-R-A-G-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: en·cour·aging |
| In writing | 14 times per million words; the 5,679th 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 encouraging?
Encouraging appears 14 times per million words in written English, the 5,679th 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 encouraging?
- UK /ɪnˈkʌɹɪd͡ʒɪŋ/
- US /ɪnˈkɝɹɪd͡ʒɪŋ/
Encouraging has 3 syllables, split en·cour·aging in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Persent101-encouraging.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of encouraging
- more encouraging comparative
- most encouraging superlative
- encouragings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does encouraging mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Giving courage, confidence or hope; auspicious.
Although there is no cure for the disease yet, the research results are encouraging.
- 2
Supporting by giving encouragement: positively.
Your encouraging words inspired me to persevere.
noun
- 1
encouragement
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of encourage
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Encouraging in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense giving courage, confidence or hope:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | ermutigend |
| Spanish | alentador, esperanzador, halagüeño |
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.