painless
adjective
painless is spelled P-A-I-N-L-E-S-S: 8 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.4 times per million words in written English, the 23,536th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, painless means “Free from pain; without pain or trouble” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in painless?
| Letters | 8: P-A-I-N-L-E-S-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.4 times per million words; the 23,536th 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 painless?
Painless appears 1.4 times per million words in written English, the 23,536th 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 painless?
Painless 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-painless.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of painless
- more painless comparative
- most painless superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does painless mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Free from pain; without pain or trouble.
- 2
Not difficult; easy.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Painless in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense without pain or trouble:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | indolore |
| German | schmerzlos, schmerzfrei |
| Portuguese | indolor |
| Spanish | sin dolor, indoloro |
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 painless come from?
From Middle English paynles, peynlees, equivalent to pain + -less. Compare West Frisian pynleas (“painless”), Dutch pijnloos (“painless”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).