spiritual
/ˈspɪɹɪt͡ʃuəl/adjective, noun
spiritual is spelled S-P-I-R-I-T-U-A-L. The wrong spelling people search most is spritual: about 60 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 61 of all searches for the word. Spiritual is an adjective meaning “Of or pertaining to the spirit or the soul”.
How many letters and syllables are in spiritual?
| Letters | 9: S-P-I-R-I-T-U-A-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 25 times per million words; the 3,612th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, spritual, about 60 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell spiritual?
Spiritual is spelled S-P-I-R-I-T-U-A-L. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 52 of the searches for spiritual in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is spiritual?
Spiritual appears 25 times per million words in written English, the 3,612th 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 spiritual?
- UK /ˈspɪɹɪtʃʊəl/
- UK /ˈspɪɹɪtjʊəl/
- US /ˈspɪɹɪt͡ʃuəl/
Spiritual has 4 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-spiritual.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of spiritual
- more spiritual comparative
- most spiritual superlative
- spirituals plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does spiritual mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Of or pertaining to the spirit or the soul.
Respect towards ancestors is an essential part of Thai spiritual practice.
- 2
Of or pertaining to God or a place of worship; sacred, pure; (Christianity, specifically) inspired by the Holy Spirit.
- 3
Of or pertaining to spirits; supernatural.
- 4
Consisting of spirit; not material; incorporeal.
a spiritual substance or being
- 5
Of or relating to the intellectual and higher endowments of the mind; mental; intellectual.
- 6
Not lay or temporal; relating to sacred things; ecclesiastical.
the spiritual functions of the clergy; lords spiritual and temporal; a spiritual corporation
noun
- 1
A Christian religious song, especially one in an African-American style, or a similar non-religious song.
- 2
Any spiritual function, office, or affair.
noun
- 1
A member of a branch of the Franciscan order that advocated simple dress and renounced the owning of property.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate spiritual?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of spiritual: ESP.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Spiritual in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense of or pertaining to the spirit or the soul:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | spirituel |
| German | geistig |
| Portuguese | espiritual |
| Spanish | espiritual |
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 spiritual come from?
From Middle English spiritual, spirituel, from Old French spirituel, from Late Latin spīrituālis, from Latin spīritus. By surface analysis, spirit + -ual.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).