painful
/ˈpeɪn.fl̩/adjective
painful is spelled P-A-I-N-F-U-L: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 21 times per million words in written English, the 4,153rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, painful means “Causing pain or distress, either physical or mental” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in painful?
| Letters | 7: P-A-I-N-F-U-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 21 times per million words; the 4,153rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 painful?
Painful appears 21 times per million words in written English, the 4,153rd 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 painful?
- /ˈpeɪn.fl̩/
Painful 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-painful.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of painful
- painfuller comparative
- more painful comparative
- painfullest superlative
- most painful superlative
- painfull
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does painful mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Causing pain or distress, either physical or mental.
- 2
Afflicted or suffering with pain (of a body part or, formerly, of a person).
- 3
Requiring effort or labor; difficult, laborious.
- 4
archaicPainstaking; careful; industrious.
- 5
informalVery bad, poor.
His violin playing is painful.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Painful in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | douloureux , laborieux |
| German | schmerzhaft |
| Portuguese | doloroso, dolorido , árduo, extenuante , doído |
| Spanish | doloroso , dolorido, adolorido |
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 painful come from?
From Middle English paynful, peinful, peynful, paynefull, peynefull, equivalent to pain + -ful. Compare Danish pinefuld (“painful”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).