miserable
mis·er·a·ble/ˈmɪz(ə)ɹəbəl/adjective, noun
miserable is spelled M-I-S-E-R-A-B-L-E, 4 syllables: mis·er·a·ble. The wrong spelling people search most is misrable: about 50 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 29 of all searches for the word. Miserable is an adjective meaning “In a state of misery: very sad, ill, or poor”.
How many letters and syllables are in miserable?
| Letters | 9: M-I-S-E-R-A-B-L-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4: mis·er·a·ble |
| In writing | 12 times per million words; the 6,347th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, misrable, about 50 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 miserable?
Miserable is spelled M-I-S-E-R-A-B-L-E. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 21 of the searches for miserable 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 miserable?
Miserable appears 12 times per million words in written English, the 6,347th 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 miserable?
- /ˈmɪz(ə)ɹəbəl/
Miserable has 4 syllables, split mis·er·a·ble in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-miserable.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of miserable
- more miserable comparative
- most miserable superlative
- miserables plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does miserable mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
In a state of misery: very sad, ill, or poor.
- 2
Very bad (at something); unskilled, incompetent; hopeless.
He's good at some sports, like tennis, but he's just miserable at football.
- 3
Of the weather, extremely unpleasant due to being cold, wet, overcast, etc.
- 4
Wretched; worthless; mean; contemptible.
a miserable sinner
- 5
obsoleteCausing unhappiness or misery.
- 6
obsoleteAvaricious; niggardly; miserly.
- 7
Negative minded, unpleasant to be around.
noun
- 1
A miserable person; a wretch.
- 2
informalA state of misery or melancholy.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate miserable?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of miserable: miz.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Miserable in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | misérable |
| German | elend, erbärmlich, jämmerlich, miserabel |
| Portuguese | miserável , horrível |
| Spanish | miserable, mísero |
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 miserable come from?
Borrowed from Middle French miserable, from Old French, from Latin miserabilis, equivalent to miser + -able.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).