terrific
te·rri·ficadjective
terrific is spelled T-E-R-R-I-F-I-C: 8 letters and 3 syllables (te·rri·fic). It appears 7.9 times per million words in written English, the 8,266th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, terrific means “Very strong or intense; excessive, tremendous” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in terrific?
| Letters | 8: T-E-R-R-I-F-I-C |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: te·rri·fic |
| In writing | 7.9 times per million words; the 8,266th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is terrific?
Terrific appears 7.9 times per million words in written English, the 8,266th 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 terrific?
Terrific has 3 syllables, split te·rri·fic in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-I_learned_some_phrases-terrific.wav, En-us-terrific.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Wodencafe-terrific.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with terrific?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as terrific.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: ferritic.
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 terrific
- more terrific comparative
- most terrific superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does terrific mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
archaicCausing terror; terrifying.
- 2
Very strong or intense; excessive, tremendous.
The car came round the bend at a terrific speed.
- 3
Extremely good; excellent, amazing.
I say! She's a terrific tennis player.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Terrific in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | terrifiant , formidable, fantastique |
| German | fürchterlich, furchtbar, schrecklich, schreckeinjagend, grauenvoll , sagenhaft |
| Spanish | terrífico |
| Portuguese | formidável, estupendo, fantástico , tremendo |
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 terrific come from?
From French terrifique, and its source, Latin terrificus (“terrifying”), from terrēre (“to frighten, terrify”) + -ficus, related to facere (“to make”). By surface analysis, terrify + -ic.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).