gleeful
/ˈɡliːfəl/adjective
gleeful is spelled G-L-E-E-F-U-L: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 57,423rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, gleeful means “Exuberantly or triumphantly joyful” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in gleeful?
| Letters | 7: G-L-E-E-F-U-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 4 million words; the 57,423rd 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 gleeful?
Gleeful appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 57,423rd 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 gleeful?
- /ˈɡliːfəl/
Gleeful 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-gleeful.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of gleeful
- more gleeful comparative
- most gleeful superlative
- gleefull
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does gleeful mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Exuberantly or triumphantly joyful.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Gleeful in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense joyful:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | schadenfroh, genüsslich |
| Spanish | beato |
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 gleeful come from?
From glee + -ful.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).