stiffness
noun
stiffness is spelled S-T-I-F-F-N-E-S-S: 9 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.6 times per million words in written English, the 22,362nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, stiffness means “Rigidity or a measure of rigidity” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of stiffness is stiffnesses.
How many letters and syllables are in stiffness?
| Letters | 9: S-T-I-F-F-N-E-S-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.6 times per million words; the 22,362nd 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 stiffness?
Stiffness appears 1.6 times per million words in written English, the 22,362nd 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 stiffness?
Stiffness 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-stiffness.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of stiffness
- stiffnesses plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does stiffness mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Rigidity or a measure of rigidity.
- 2
Inflexibility or a measure of inflexibility.
- 3
Inelegance; a lack of relaxedness.
His stiffness hampered the conversation.
- 4
Muscular tension due to unaccustomed or excessive exercise or work; soreness.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Stiffness in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | rigidité, raideur , inflexibilité |
| German | Erstarrung, Starre, Steife, Steifigkeit, Steifheit |
| Portuguese | rigidez |
| Spanish | rigidez , inflexibilidad , agujetas |
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 stiffness come from?
From Middle English stiffenes, styffenesse, styfnesse; equivalent to stiff + -ness. Perhaps merging with Middle English stithnesse, stithnysse, from Old English stīþness (“stiffness”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).