frighten
frigh·ten/ˈfɹaɪ.tən/verb
frighten is spelled F-R-I-G-H-T-E-N: 8 letters and 2 syllables (frigh·ten). It appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 26,092nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, frighten means “To cause to feel fear; to scare; to cause to feel alarm or fright” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in frighten?
| Letters | 8: F-R-I-G-H-T-E-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: frigh·ten |
| In writing | 1.2 times per million words; the 26,092nd 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 frighten?
Frighten appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 26,092nd 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 frighten?
- /ˈfɹaɪ.tən/
- [ˈfɹ̥aɪtn̩]
- [ˈfɹ̥aɪʔn̩]
Frighten has 2 syllables, split frigh·ten in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-frighten.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of frighten
- frightens present, singular, he/she/it
- frightening participle, present
- frightened participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does frighten mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To cause to feel fear; to scare; to cause to feel alarm or fright.
Avery puts a sheet over her head, pretending to be a ghost to frighten Emily.
- 2
To become scared or alarmed.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Frighten in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense to disturb with fear:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | effrayer, redouter, terrifier |
| German | Angst machen, erschrecken, schrecken, beängstigen, ängstigen |
| Portuguese | intimidar, amedrontar, ameaçar |
| Spanish | atemorizar, amedrentar, asustar, amedrantar, aspaventar |
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 frighten come from?
From Middle English *frightenen, equivalent to fright + -en.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).