interesting
in·ter·est·ing/ˈɪntəɹəstɪŋ/adjective, verb
interesting is spelled I-N-T-E-R-E-S-T-I-N-G, 4 syllables: in·ter·est·ing. The wrong spelling people search most is intresting: about 340 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 11 of all searches for the word. Interesting is an adjective meaning “Arousing or holding the attention or interest of someone”.
How many letters and syllables are in interesting?
| Letters | 11: I-N-T-E-R-E-S-T-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4: in·ter·est·ing |
| In writing | 100 times per million words; the 1,076th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 4; the most searched, intresting, about 340 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell interesting?
Interesting is spelled I-N-T-E-R-E-S-T-I-N-G. 4 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 10 of the searches for interesting in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is interesting?
Interesting appears 100 times per million words in written English, the 1,076th 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 interesting?
- UK /ˈɪntɹəstɪŋ/
- UK /ˈɪntɹɛstɪŋ/
- US /ˈɪntəɹəstɪŋ/
Interesting has 4 syllables, split in·ter·est·ing in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-interesting-2.ogg, En-us-interesting.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of interesting
- more interesting comparative
- most interesting superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does interesting mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
obsoleteOf concern; affecting, important.
- 2
Arousing or holding the attention or interest of someone.
Cricket is not interesting to watch.
- 3
Pregnant. (used with situation and condition)
- 4
uninteresting, boring, soggy
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of interest
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate interesting?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of interesting: PMI.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Interesting in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense arousing or holding the attention:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | intéressant |
| German | interessant, reizvoll |
| Portuguese | interessante |
| Spanish | interesante, que tiene interés |
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 interesting come from?
From interest + -ing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).