pettiness
noun
pettiness is spelled P-E-T-T-I-N-E-S-S: 9 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 49,949th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, pettiness means “The quality of being petty” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of pettiness is pettinesses.
How many letters and syllables are in pettiness?
| Letters | 9: P-E-T-T-I-N-E-S-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 3 million words; the 49,949th 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 pettiness?
Pettiness appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 49,949th 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 pettiness?
- US
Pettiness has 3 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)-Qwertygiy-pettiness.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of pettiness
- pettinesses plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does pettiness mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The quality of being petty.
The pettiness of the accounting department asking me to save a receipt from a fast-food restaurant was absurd.
- 2
A petty behaviour, attitude, etc.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Pettiness in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense Translations:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | Kleinlichkeit, Kleinkariertheit |
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 pettiness come from?
From petty + -ness.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).