shellacking
noun, verb
shellacking is spelled S-H-E-L-L-A-C-K-I-N-G: 11 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 18 million words in written English, the 128,787th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, shellacking means “The act or process of coating with shellac” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of shellacking is shellackings.
How many letters and syllables are in shellacking?
| Letters | 11: S-H-E-L-L-A-C-K-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 18 million words; the 128,787th 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 shellacking?
Shellacking appears about once in every 18 million words in written English, the 128,787th 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 shellacking?
Shellacking 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).
Forms of shellacking
- shellackings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does shellacking mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The act or process of coating with shellac.
- 2
USinformalA heavy defeat, drubbing, or beating; used particularly in sports and political contexts.
Our baseball team got off to an indifferent start at the beginning of the season, but […] "Steve" Newman gave Gonzalo another shellacking that he won't forget for some time.
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of shellac
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does shellacking come from?
From shellac + -ing. Shellac is used in floor polish; compare polishing, as in "the other boxer in the match polished the floor with me; I took quite a polishing".
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).