frightful
fright·ful/ˈfɹaɪtfəl/adjective, adverb
frightful is spelled F-R-I-G-H-T-F-U-L: 9 letters and 2 syllables (fright·ful). It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 36,176th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, frightful means “Genuinely horrific, awful, or alarming” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in frightful?
| Letters | 9: F-R-I-G-H-T-F-U-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: fright·ful |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 36,176th 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 frightful?
Frightful appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 36,176th 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 frightful?
- /ˈfɹaɪtfəl/
Frightful has 2 syllables, split fright·ful in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-frightful.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of frightful
- more frightful comparative
- most frightful superlative
- frightfull
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does frightful mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
obsoleteAfraid, frightened.
Ðis frigtful ðus a-biden,
- 2
obsoleteTimid, fearful, easily frightened.
- 3
Genuinely horrific, awful, or alarming.
- 4
Unpleasant, dreadful, awful (also used as an intensifier).
adverb
- 1
Frightfully; very.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Frightful in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | effrayant |
| Portuguese | assustador |
| German | furchtbar |
| Spanish | temible |
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 frightful come from?
From Middle English frightful (“afraid”), from Old English forhtfull (“fainthearted, timorous”). Equivalent to fright + -ful.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).