sadness
/ˈsædnəs/noun
sadness is spelled S-A-D-N-E-S-S: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 7.6 times per million words in written English, the 8,542nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, sadness means “The state or emotion of being sad” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of sadness is sadnesses.
How many letters and syllables are in sadness?
| Letters | 7: S-A-D-N-E-S-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 7.6 times per million words; the 8,542nd 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 sadness?
Sadness appears 7.6 times per million words in written English, the 8,542nd 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 sadness?
- /ˈsædnəs/
Sadness 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: En-us-sadness.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of sadness
- sadnesses plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sadness mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The state or emotion of being sad.
- 2
An event in one's life that causes sadness.
She has experienced many sadnesses in her forty years.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Sadness in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | tristesse , malheur |
| German | Traurigkeit , Schicksalsschlag, Pech |
| Portuguese | tristeza |
| Spanish | tristeza, engurrio , desgracia, infortunio |
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 sadness come from?
From Middle English sadnesse, equivalent to sad + -ness.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).