vulnerable
vul·ner·a·ble/ˈvʌln(ə)ɹəbl̩/adjective
vulnerable is spelled V-U-L-N-E-R-A-B-L-E, 4 syllables: vul·ner·a·ble. The wrong spelling people search most is vunerable: about 190 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 21 of all searches for the word. Vulnerable is an adjective meaning “More or most likely to be exposed to the chance of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally”.
How many letters and syllables are in vulnerable?
| Letters | 10: V-U-L-N-E-R-A-B-L-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4: vul·ner·a·ble |
| In writing | 16 times per million words; the 5,025th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, vunerable, about 190 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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).
How do you spell vulnerable?
Vulnerable is spelled V-U-L-N-E-R-A-B-L-E. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 19 of the searches for vulnerable 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 vulnerable?
Vulnerable appears 16 times per million words in written English, the 5,025th 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 vulnerable?
- /ˈvʌln(ə)ɹəbl̩/
- /ˈvʌn(ə)ɹəbl̩/
Vulnerable has 4 syllables, split vul·ner·a·ble in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-vulnerable.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of vulnerable
- more vulnerable comparative
- most vulnerable superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does vulnerable mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
More or most likely to be exposed to the chance of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally.
You are vulnerable to be bullied by someone at school.
- 2
Open to disclosing one's inner thoughts and feelings, acting in spite of one's instinct to self-preservation.
It's okay to get vulnerable every now and again.
- 3
More likely to be exposed to malicious programs or viruses.
a vulnerable PC with no antivirus software
- 4
at moderate risk of extinction though not quite endangered.
Welsh is merely a vulnerable language, but Irish and Scottish Gaelic are definitely endangered.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Vulnerable in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense exposed to attack:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | vulnérable |
| German | verletzlich, verwundbar, empfindlich, anfällig |
| Portuguese | vulnerável |
| Spanish | vulnerable |
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 vulnerable come from?
From Late Latin vulnerābilis (“injurious, wounding”), from Latin vulnerō (“to wound”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).