superficial
sup·er·fi·cial/ˌsupɚˈfɪʃəl/adjective, noun
superficial is spelled S-U-P-E-R-F-I-C-I-A-L, 4 syllables: sup·er·fi·cial. The wrong spelling people search most is supraficial: about 10 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 385 of all searches for the word. Superficial is an adjective meaning “Existing, occurring, or located on the surface”.
How many letters and syllables are in superficial?
| Letters | 11: S-U-P-E-R-F-I-C-I-A-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4: sup·er·fi·cial |
| In writing | 3.6 times per million words; the 13,695th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, supraficial, about 10 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; 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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell superficial?
Superficial is spelled S-U-P-E-R-F-I-C-I-A-L. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 390 of the searches for superficial 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 superficial?
Superficial appears 3.6 times per million words in written English, the 13,695th 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 superficial?
- UK /ˌsuːpəˈfɪʃəl/
- UK [ˌsʊu̯pəˈfɪʃəl] ~ [ˌsʊu̯pəˈfɪʃl̩]
- US /ˌsupɚˈfɪʃəl/
Superficial has 4 syllables, split sup·er·fi·cial in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-superficial.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with superficial?
6 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as superficial from its last stressed vowel (/ɪʃəl/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of superficial
- more superficial comparative
- most superficial superlative
- superficials plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does superficial mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Existing, occurring, or located on the surface.
- 2
Close to the surface of the body; especially, situated or occurring on the skin or immediately beneath it.
superficial muscles
- 3
Appearing to be true or real only until examined more closely.
- 4
Not thorough, deep, or complete; concerned only with the obvious or apparent.
- 5
Lacking depth of character or understanding; lacking substance or significance.
- 6
rareTwo-dimensional; drawn on a flat surface.
- 7
UKDenoting a quantity of a material expressed in terms of area covered rather than linear dimension or volume.
one superficial foot
noun
- 1
A surface detail.
He always concentrates on the superficials and fails to see the real issue.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Superficial in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | oberflächlich , äußerlich |
| Portuguese | superficial |
| Spanish | superficial |
| French | superficiel |
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 superficial come from?
Borrowing from Late Latin superficiālis (“of or belonging to the surface”), from superficiēs (“top, surface”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).