frightening
fright·en·ing/ˈfɹaɪtənɪŋ/adjective, verb
frightening is spelled F-R-I-G-H-T-E-N-I-N-G: 11 letters and 3 syllables (fright·en·ing). It appears 4.7 times per million words in written English, the 11,685th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, frightening means “Causing fear; or capable of causing fear; scary” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in frightening?
| Letters | 11: F-R-I-G-H-T-E-N-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: fright·en·ing |
| In writing | 4.7 times per million words; the 11,685th 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 frightening?
Frightening appears 4.7 times per million words in written English, the 11,685th 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 frightening?
- /ˈfɹaɪtənɪŋ/
- /ˈfɹaɪtnɪŋ/
Frightening has 3 syllables, split fright·en·ing in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-frightening.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of frightening
- more frightening comparative
- most frightening superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does frightening mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Causing fear; or capable of causing fear; scary.
Riding the rollercoaster was a frightening experience.
- 2
Awful, terrible, very bad.
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of frighten
The scientist was frightening the timid children.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Frightening in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense scary:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | effrayant |
| German | fürchterlich, schreckerregend |
| Portuguese | assustador |
| Spanish | aterrante, aterrador, atemorizante, atemorizador, asustante, asustador |
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 frightening come from?
From frighten + -ing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).