idleness
idle·ness/ˈaɪdəlnəs/noun
idleness is spelled I-D-L-E-N-E-S-S: 8 letters and 2 syllables (idle·ness). It appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 54,192nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, idleness means “The state of being idle; inactivity” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of idleness is idlenesses.
How many letters and syllables are in idleness?
| Letters | 8: I-D-L-E-N-E-S-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: idle·ness |
| In writing | about once in every 3 million words; the 54,192nd 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 idleness?
Idleness appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 54,192nd 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 idleness?
- /ˈaɪdəlnəs/
Idleness has 2 syllables, split idle·ness in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vininn126-idleness.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of idleness
- idlenesses plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does idleness mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The state of being idle; inactivity.
- 2
The state of being indolent; indolence.
- 3
Groundlessness; worthlessness; triviality; vanity; frivolity.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Idleness in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | oisiveté, inactivité , indolence , inutilité, futilité, trivialité |
| German | Untätigkeit, Stillstand, Müßiggang , Trägheit, Arbeitsunwilligkeit |
| Portuguese | inatividade, ócio , indolência |
| Spanish | inactividad, holganza , indolencia |
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 idleness come from?
From Middle English ydelnesse, from Old English īdelnes, from Proto-West Germanic *īdlanassī, equivalent to idle + -ness. Cognate with Old Frisian īdelnisse (“idelness”), obsolete Dutch ijdelnis, Old Saxon īdalnussi (“idleness, vanity”), Old High German ītalnissa (“idleness, vanity, emptiness”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).