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PlainSpell

scribble

/ˈskɹɪbəl/verb, noun

scribble is spelled S-C-R-I-B-B-L-E: 8 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 40,267th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, scribble means “To write or draw carelessly and in a hurry” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in scribble?

Letters8: S-C-R-I-B-B-L-E
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 2 million words; the 40,267th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 scribble?

Scribble appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 40,267th 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 scribble?

  • /ˈskɹɪbəl/

Scribble 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-scribble.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-scribble.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of scribble

  • scribbles present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • scribbling participle, present
  • scribbled participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does scribble mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To write or draw carelessly and in a hurry.

    I suddenly remembered I needed to buy bleach, so scribbled it down on my shopping list.

  2. 2

    To doodle.

  3. 3

    To write badly; to work as an inferior author or journalist.

  4. 4

    obsoleteTo card or tease (wool) coarsely; to run through a scribbler.

noun

  1. 1

    Careless, hasty writing, doodle or drawing

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Scribble in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchgribouiller, griffonner (to write or draw carelessly and in a hurry), grabouiller (to doodle), pattes de mouche, pieds de mouche, gribouillis (hastily done writing)
Germanschmieren, krakeln, kritzeln (to write or draw carelessly and in a hurry), Gekritzel, Kritzelei, Krakelei (hastily done writing)
Portugueserabiscar, garranchar (to write or draw carelessly and in a hurry), garrancho (hastily done writing)
Spanishgarabatear, borrajear, borronear, garrapatear, escarabajear (to write or draw carelessly and in a hurry), garrapato (hastily done writing)

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 scribble come from?

From Middle English scriblen, from (1) scrīben + -le and/or (2) Latin scrībillō (found in conscrībillō), from cōnscrībō, from scrībō (“write”), equivalent to scribe + -le (frequentative suffix).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after scribble