fruitless
fruit·less/ˈfɹutləs/adjective
fruitless is spelled F-R-U-I-T-L-E-S-S: 9 letters and 2 syllables (fruit·less). It appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,462nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, fruitless means “Bearing no fruit; barren” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in fruitless?
| Letters | 9: F-R-U-I-T-L-E-S-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: fruit·less |
| In writing | 1.1 times per million words; the 27,462nd 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 fruitless?
Fruitless appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,462nd 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 fruitless?
- UK /ˈfɹuːtləs/
- US /ˈfɹutləs/
- Australia /ˈfɹʉːtləs/
Fruitless has 2 syllables, split fruit·less in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-fruitless.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of fruitless
- more fruitless comparative
- most fruitless superlative
- fruitlesse
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does fruitless mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Bearing no fruit; barren.
- 2
Unproductive, useless.
The unskilled man’s attempt at fixing his car engine was fruitless.
- 3
archaicOf a person: unable to have children; barren, infertile.
The fruitless woman desperately wanted to have children.
- 4
rareOf a diet, etc.: without fruit.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Fruitless in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | abortif , vain |
| German | erntelos , fruchtlos, unfruchtbar, ergebnislos, resultatlos, unerquicklich |
| Portuguese | infrutífero |
| Spanish | infructuoso |
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 fruitless come from?
Inherited from Middle English fruytles; equivalent to fruit + -less. Compare Middle English withouten fruyt (“fruitless”, literally “without fruit”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).