flippant
/ˈflɪp.ənt/adjective
flippant is spelled F-L-I-P-P-A-N-T: 8 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 47,633rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, flippant means “Showing disrespect through a casual attitude, levity, and a lack of due seriousness; pert” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in flippant?
| Letters | 8: F-L-I-P-P-A-N-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 3 million words; the 47,633rd 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 flippant?
Flippant appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 47,633rd 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 flippant?
- US /ˈflɪp.ənt/
Flippant 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-flippant.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of flippant
- more flippant comparative
- most flippant superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does flippant mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Showing disrespect through a casual attitude, levity, and a lack of due seriousness; pert.
- 2
archaicLoquacious; speaking with ease and rapidity.
November 5, 1673, Isaac Barrow, sermon on the Gunpowder Treason It becometh good men, in such cases, to be pleasantly flippant and free in their speech.
- 3
Nimble; limber.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Flippant in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense lacking respect:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | désinvolte, cavalier |
| German | schnodderig, vorlaut, frech, oberflächlich, leichtfertig, mit fehlender Ernsthaftigkeit |
| Portuguese | insolente, impertinente |
| Spanish | fresco, poco serio |
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 flippant come from?
1595, from Northern English dialectal flippand (“prattling, babbling, glib”), present participle of flip (“to babble”), of North Germanic origin. Cognate with Icelandic fleipa (“to babble, prattle”), Swedish dialectal flepa (“to talk nonsense”). Alteration of -and suffix (a variant of the participial -ing) to -ant probably due to influence from words in -ant.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).