facetious
fa·ce·tious/fəˈsiːʃəs/adjective
facetious is spelled F-A-C-E-T-I-O-U-S: 9 letters and 3 syllables (fa·ce·tious). It appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 52,337th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, facetious means “Treating serious issues with (often deliberately) inappropriate humour; flippant” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in facetious?
| Letters | 9: F-A-C-E-T-I-O-U-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: fa·ce·tious |
| In writing | about once in every 3 million words; the 52,337th 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 facetious?
Facetious appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 52,337th 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 facetious?
- /fəˈsiːʃəs/
- /fəˈsiːʃɪs/
Facetious has 3 syllables, split fa·ce·tious in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-facetious.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-NaomiAmethyst-facetious.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of facetious
- more facetious comparative
- most facetious superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does facetious mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Treating serious issues with (often deliberately) inappropriate humour; flippant.
Robbie's joke about Heather's appearance was just him being facetious.
- 2
Pleasantly humorous; jocular.
- 3
humorously silly or counterproductive for the purpose of sarcastically advocating the opposite.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Facetious in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | facétieux |
| German | flapsig, mit unangemessenem Humor, unpassende Scherze machend , spaßig, witzig, lustig |
| Portuguese | debochado , faceto |
| Spanish | fisgón, socarrón, faceto , gracioso, facecioso |
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 facetious come from?
From French facétieux, from Latin facētia (“jest, wit, humor”), from facētus (“witty, jocose, facetious”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).