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lavish

/ˈlævɪʃ/adjective, verb

lavish is spelled L-A-V-I-S-H: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 2.6 times per million words in written English, the 16,687th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, lavish means “Expending or bestowing profusely; profuse; prodigal” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in lavish?

Letters6: L-A-V-I-S-H
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing2.6 times per million words; the 16,687th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 lavish?

Lavish appears 2.6 times per million words in written English, the 16,687th 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 lavish?

  • /ˈlævɪʃ/

Lavish 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: En-us-lavish.ogg, En-au-lavish.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of lavish

  • lavisher comparative
  • more lavish comparative
  • lavishest superlative
  • most lavish superlative
  • lavishes present, singular, he/she/it
  • lavishing participle, present
  • lavished participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does lavish mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Expending or bestowing profusely; profuse; prodigal.

    lavish of money; lavish of praise

  2. 2

    Superabundant; excessive.

    lavish spirits

  3. 3

    obsoleteUnrestrained, impetuous.

  4. 4

    Rank or lush with vegetation.

verb

  1. 1

    To give out extremely generously; to squander.

    They lavished money on the dinner.

  2. 2

    To give out to (somebody) extremely generously.

    They lavished him with praise.

noun

  1. 1

    obsoleteExcessive abundance or expenditure, profusion, prodigality.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Lavish in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchsomptueux, prodigue, abondant (profuse)
Germanfreigiebig, verschwenderisch (profuse), überreich, üppig (excessive), verschleudern, verprassen (to expend or bestow with profusion; to squander)
Portuguesepródigo, perdulário, profuso, esbanjador, dissipador (profuse), esbanjar (to expend or bestow with profusion; to squander)
Spanishpródigo, dadivoso, fastuoso, opíparo, regalón, suntuario (profuse)

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 lavish come from?

From Middle English laves, lavas, lavage (“extravagant, wasteful, prodigal”), from lavas (“excessive abundance”), from Old French lavasse, lavache (“torrent of rain”); possibly later conflated in some senses by Middle English laven (“to pour out”), equivalent to lave + -ish. Compare Scots lawage, lavisch, lavish (“unrestrained, excessively prodigal, extravagant”). Compare also English lavy (“lavish, liberal”), Dutch lafenis (“lavishness”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after lavish