hurtful
/ˈhɜɹtfʊl/adjective
hurtful is spelled H-U-R-T-F-U-L: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 2.0 times per million words in written English, the 19,589th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, hurtful means “Tending to impair or damage; injurious; occasioning loss or injury” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in hurtful?
| Letters | 7: H-U-R-T-F-U-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.0 times per million words; the 19,589th 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 hurtful?
Hurtful appears 2.0 times per million words in written English, the 19,589th 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 hurtful?
- UK /ˈhɜːtfʊl/
- UK /ˈhɜːtfəl/
- US /ˈhɜɹtfʊl/
Hurtful 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-hurtful.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of hurtful
- more hurtful comparative
- most hurtful superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does hurtful mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Tending to impair or damage; injurious; occasioning loss or injury.
- 2
Tending to hurt someone's feelings; insulting; lacerating.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Hurtful in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
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 hurtful come from?
From hurt + -ful.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).