punishing
/ˈpʌnɪʃɪŋ/adjective, noun, verb
punishing is spelled P-U-N-I-S-H-I-N-G: 9 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 3.2 times per million words in written English, the 14,928th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, punishing means “That punishes physically and/or mentally; arduous, gruelling, demanding” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in punishing?
| Letters | 9: P-U-N-I-S-H-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.2 times per million words; the 14,928th 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 punishing?
Punishing appears 3.2 times per million words in written English, the 14,928th 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 punishing?
- /ˈpʌnɪʃɪŋ/
Punishing 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)-Vealhurl-punishing.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of punishing
- more punishing comparative
- most punishing superlative
- punishings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does punishing mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
That punishes physically and/or mentally; arduous, gruelling, demanding.
They took off at a punishing speed, making London in less than half a day.
- 2
Debilitating, harsh.
noun
- 1
Punishment.
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of punish
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).