ravenous
/ˈɹævənəs/adjective
ravenous is spelled R-A-V-E-N-O-U-S: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 38,863rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, ravenous means “Very hungry” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in ravenous?
| Letters | 8: R-A-V-E-N-O-U-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 38,863rd 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 ravenous?
Ravenous appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 38,863rd 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 ravenous?
- /ˈɹævənəs/
Ravenous 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-ravenous.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of ravenous
- more ravenous comparative
- most ravenous superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does ravenous mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Very hungry.
- 2
Greedy, characterized by strong desires.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Ravenous in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | affamé, vorace , avide |
| German | gefräßig, ausgehungert, heißhungrig |
| Portuguese | faminto, famélico, voraz, ávido, guloso, sedento |
| Spanish | angurriento , ávido de presa |
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 ravenous come from?
From Middle English ravenous, ravynous, from Old French ravineus. By surface analysis, ravin + -ous. As seen at raven and ravin, the word comes from a root referring to predation, not from the root referring to ravens (corvid birds); but folk etymology notes that the latter hypothesis seems plausible because ravens can often seem ravenous (especially as nestlings).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).