joyful
joy·ful/ˈd͡ʒɔɪfl̩/adjective
joyful is spelled J-O-Y-F-U-L: 6 letters and 2 syllables (joy·ful). It appears 2.5 times per million words in written English, the 17,122nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, joyful means “Feeling or causing joy” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in joyful?
| Letters | 6: J-O-Y-F-U-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: joy·ful |
| In writing | 2.5 times per million words; the 17,122nd 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 joyful?
Joyful appears 2.5 times per million words in written English, the 17,122nd 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 joyful?
- /ˈd͡ʒɔɪfl̩/
Joyful has 2 syllables, split joy·ful in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-joyful.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of joyful
- joyfuller comparative
- more joyful comparative
- joyfullest superlative
- most joyful superlative
- joyfull
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does joyful mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Feeling or causing joy.
The children were joyful on the first day of summer break.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Joyful in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense feeling or causing joy:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | allègre, joyeux |
| German | freudig, erfreulich, erfreut |
| Portuguese | alegre, gozoso |
| Spanish | alegre, gozoso |
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 joyful come from?
From joy + -ful.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).