fatuous
/ˈfæ.tʃu.əs/adjective
fatuous is spelled F-A-T-U-O-U-S: 7 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 6 million words in written English, the 72,332nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, fatuous means “Obnoxiously stupid; vacantly silly; content in one's foolishness” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in fatuous?
| Letters | 7: F-A-T-U-O-U-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 6 million words; the 72,332nd 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 fatuous?
Fatuous appears about once in every 6 million words in written English, the 72,332nd 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 fatuous?
- UK /ˈfæt.ju.əs/
- US /ˈfæ.tʃu.əs/
Fatuous has 3 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)-Vealhurl-fatuous.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of fatuous
- more fatuous comparative
- most fatuous superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does fatuous mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Obnoxiously stupid; vacantly silly; content in one's foolishness.
Near-synonyms: vacuous; see also Thesaurus:stupid
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Fatuous in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense obnoxiously stupid:
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 fatuous come from?
From Latin fatuus (“foolish, silly, simple”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).