foolish
/ˈfuː.lɪʃ/adjective
foolish is spelled F-O-O-L-I-S-H: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 7.8 times per million words in written English, the 8,417th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, foolish means “Lacking good sense or judgement as a general trait; unwise; stupid” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in foolish?
| Letters | 7: F-O-O-L-I-S-H |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 7.8 times per million words; the 8,417th 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 foolish?
Foolish appears 7.8 times per million words in written English, the 8,417th 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 foolish?
- /ˈfuː.lɪʃ/
Foolish 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-us-foolish.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-foolish.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of foolish
- more foolish comparative
- most foolish superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does foolish mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Lacking good sense or judgement as a general trait; unwise; stupid.
- 2
Not based on good sense or judgement; as a fool would do or conclude.
- 3
Resembling or characteristic of a fool.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Foolish in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense lacking good sense or judgement; unwise:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | sot, stupide, bête, idiot |
| German | dumm, närrisch, töricht |
| Portuguese | idiota, tolo |
| Spanish | tonto, necio, imprudente, taba, lonyipietro, lonyi |
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 foolish come from?
From Middle English folisch; equivalent to fool + -ish.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).