punish
pun·ish/ˈpʌnɪʃ/verb
punish is spelled P-U-N-I-S-H: 6 letters and 2 syllables (pun·ish). It appears 8.9 times per million words in written English, the 7,672nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, punish means “To cause (a child, student, or someone else being looked after, or a suspect or criminal) to suffer for crime or misconduct, to administer…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in punish?
| Letters | 6: P-U-N-I-S-H |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: pun·ish |
| In writing | 8.9 times per million words; the 7,672nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is punish?
Punish appears 8.9 times per million words in written English, the 7,672nd 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 punish?
- /ˈpʌnɪʃ/
Punish has 2 syllables, split pun·ish in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-punish.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of punish
- punishes present, singular, he/she/it
- punishing participle, present
- punished participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does punish mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To cause (a child, student, or someone else being looked after, or a suspect or criminal) to suffer for crime or misconduct, to administer disciplinary action, typically by an authority or a person in authority (for example: a parent, teacher, or police officer).
If a prince violates the law, then he must be punished like an ordinary person.
- 2
To treat harshly and unfairly.
- 3
colloquialTo handle or beat severely; to maul.
- 4
colloquialTo consume a large quantity of.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Punish in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | punir, châtier |
| German | bestrafen, strafen |
| Portuguese | castigar, punir |
| Spanish | castigar, punir, empurar, escarmentar , maltratar |
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 punish come from?
From Middle English punischen, from Anglo-Norman, Old French puniss-, stem of some of the conjugated forms of punir, from Latin puniō (“to inflict punishment upon”), from poena (“punishment, penalty”); see pain. Displaced Old English wītnian and (mostly, in this sense) wrecan.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).