unemployed

/ˌʌnɪmˈplɔɪd/adjective, noun

unemployed is spelled U-N-E-M-P-L-O-Y-E-D: 10 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 7.9 times per million words in written English, the 8,266th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, unemployed means “Having no job despite being able and willing to work” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in unemployed?

Letters	10: U-N-E-M-P-L-O-Y-E-D
Syllables	3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing	7.9 times per million words; the 8,266th 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 unemployed?

Unemployed appears 7.9 times per million words in written English, the 8,266th most frequent word form in the list.

unemployed0.0010.010.11101001,00010,000

rarerper million words of written Englishmore common

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce unemployed?

/ˌʌnɪmˈplɔɪd/

Unemployed has 3 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-unemployed.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Flame,_not_lame-unemployed.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What does unemployed mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

1
Having no job despite being able and willing to work.
The government announced a new initiative to help the unemployed.
2
Having no use, not doing work

noun

1
The unemployed people of a society or the world, taken collectively.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Unemployed in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

Language	Words
French	au chômage, inoccupé, chômeur (having no job), les chômeurs (the unemployed as a group)
German	arbeitslos (having no job), die Arbeitslosen (the unemployed as a group)
Portuguese	desempregado (having no job), os desempregados (the unemployed as a group)
Spanish	desempleado, cesante, parado (having no job)

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 unemployed come from?

From un- + employed.