failure
/ˈfeɪ.ljəɹ/noun
failure is spelled F-A-I-L-U-R-E: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 52 times per million words in written English, the 1,941st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, failure means “State or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, opposite of success” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of failure is failures.
How many letters and syllables are in failure?
| Letters | 7: F-A-I-L-U-R-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 52 times per million words; the 1,941st 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 failure?
Failure appears 52 times per million words in written English, the 1,941st 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 failure?
- UK /ˈfeɪ.ljə/
- US /ˈfeɪ.ljəɹ/
Failure has 2 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: En-ca-failure.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of failure
- failures plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does failure mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
State or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, opposite of success.
- 2
A condition in which a specified organ does not function well enough to support life.
heart failure
- 3
Omission to do something, whether or not it was attempted, especially something that ought to have been done.
- 4
An object, person or endeavour in a state of failure, has failed at something or incapable of success.
- 5
Termination of the ability of an item to perform its required function; breakdown.
- 6
Bankruptcy.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Failure in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | échec , insuffisance , daube, flop, navet, raté |
| German | Misserfolg, Ausfall, Verschlechterung, Misslingen, Versagen, Fehlschlag |
| Portuguese | falha, fracasso, falhanço , insuficiência, falência , fracassado |
| Spanish | fallo, fracaso, cate , fracasado , avería |
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 failure come from?
From Anglo-Norman failer, from Old French faillir (“to fail”). Equivalent to fail + -ure.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).