stingy
/ˈstɪnd͡ʒi/adjective
stingy is spelled S-T-I-N-G-Y: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,820th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, stingy means “Unwilling to spend, give, or share; ungenerous; mean” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in stingy?
| Letters | 6: S-T-I-N-G-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.1 times per million words; the 27,820th 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 stingy?
Stingy appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,820th 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 stingy?
- /ˈstɪnd͡ʒi/
As an adjective (“Stinging; able or inclined to sting”): /ˈstɪŋi/.
Stingy 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-stingy.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-stingy_(sting).wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of stingy
- stingier comparative
- stingiest superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does stingy mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Unwilling to spend, give, or share; ungenerous; mean.
- 2
Small, scant, meager, insufficient.
- 3
informalStinging; able or inclined to sting.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Stingy in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | pingre, chiche, radin, rapiat , piquant |
| German | geizig, knauserig, knausrig, gierig , stechend, stech- |
| Portuguese | avaro, sovina, pão-duro |
| Spanish | mezquino, tacaño, rácano, agarrado, amarrado, cicatero |
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 stingy come from?
Uncertain, possibly from stinge, a dialectal variation of sting (verb).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).