humiliate
/hjuːˈmɪliˌeɪt/verb
humiliate is spelled H-U-M-I-L-I-A-T-E: 9 letters and 4 syllables. It appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 26,092nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, humiliate means “To cause to be ashamed; to injure the dignity and self-respect of” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in humiliate?
| Letters | 9: H-U-M-I-L-I-A-T-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| 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 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 humiliate?
Humiliate 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 humiliate?
- /hjuːˈmɪliˌeɪt/
Humiliate has 4 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-humiliate.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of humiliate
- humiliates present, singular, he/she/it
- humiliating participle, present
- humiliated participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does humiliate mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To cause to be ashamed; to injure the dignity and self-respect of.
The bully tried to humiliate the other students during lunch.
- 2
To make humble; to lower in condition or status.
- 3
To defeat overwhelmingly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Humiliate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense to injure a person's dignity and self-respect:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | humilier |
| German | demütigen, beschämen, erniedrigen |
| Portuguese | humilhar |
| Spanish | humillar, papear |
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 humiliate come from?
Borrowed from Late Latin humiliātus, perfect passive participle of humiliō (“to abase, humble”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from Latin humilis (“lowly, humble”), from humus (“ground; earth, soil”); see humble.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).