mourning
/ˈmoɹnɪŋ/noun, verb
mourning is spelled M-O-U-R-N-I-N-G: 8 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 4.9 times per million words in written English, the 11,373rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, mourning means “The act of expressing or feeling sorrow or regret; lamentation” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of mourning is mournings.
How many letters and syllables are in mourning?
| Letters | 8: M-O-U-R-N-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 4.9 times per million words; the 11,373rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with |
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); 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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is mourning?
Mourning appears 4.9 times per million words in written English, the 11,373rd 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 mourning?
- US /ˈmoɹnɪŋ/
- US [ˈmo̞ɹnɪŋ]
- US /ˈmʊɹnɪŋ/
Mourning 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-mourning.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with mourning
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: morning (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with mourning?
2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as mourning from its last stressed vowel (/oɹnɪŋ/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of mourning
- mournings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does mourning mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The act of expressing or feeling sorrow or regret; lamentation.
- 2
Specifically, the act of expressing or feeling sorrow regarding a death or loss.
- 3
A social state or period that acknowledges a recent bereavement, which may involve social withdrawal, the observance of customs or rituals related to bereavement, etc.
- 4
The traditional clothes worn by those who mourn (in Western societies, typically coloured black).
- 5
A drape or covering associated with mourning.
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of mourn
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Mourning in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | deuil |
| German | Trauer , Trauerkleidung, Trauerbekleidung |
| Spanish | duelo, luto |
| Portuguese | luto |
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 mourning come from?
By surface analysis, mourn + -ing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What to look up after mourning
- morning or mourning? the difference
- moaning or mourning? the difference
- morning rhymes with mourning
- warning rhymes with mourning
- mournfully the entry before
- Mourvèdre the entry after
- English words starting with M the most written first
- Misspellings people search
- Count the syllables of any word
- Check the spelling of a text