wonderful
/ˈwʌndɚfl̩/adjective, adverb
wonderful is spelled W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L: 9 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 71 times per million words in written English, the 1,486th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, wonderful means “Tending to excite wonder; surprising, extraordinary” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in wonderful?
| Letters | 9: W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 71 times per million words; the 1,486th 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 and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; 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 wonderful?
Wonderful appears 71 times per million words in written English, the 1,486th 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 wonderful?
- UK /ˈwʌndəfl̩/
- US /ˈwʌndɚfl̩/
- Australia /ˈwɐndəfl̩/
Wonderful 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: En-us-wonderful.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with wonderful?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as wonderful (/ʌndəɹfl/).
Spelled with the same letters in another order: underflow.
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 wonderful
- wonderfuller comparative
- wonderfuler comparative
- more wonderful comparative
- wonderfullest superlative
- wonderfulest superlative
- most wonderful superlative
- wonderfool
- woonderful
- wonderfull
- wondreful
- wondrefull
- 1drfl
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does wonderful mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Tending to excite wonder; surprising, extraordinary.
His delusion was not wonderful, but most natural.
- 2
Surprisingly excellent; very good or admirable, extremely impressive.
They served a wonderful six-course meal.
adverb
- 1
Exceedingly, to a great extent.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Wonderful in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense excellent, extremely impressive:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | merveilleux |
| German | wunderbar, wundervoll |
| Portuguese | maravilhoso |
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 wonderful come from?
From Middle English wonderful, wondirful, from Old English wundorful (“wonderful”), from Proto-West Germanic *wundrafull, equivalent to wonder + -ful. Cognate Dutch wondervol (“wonderful”), German wundervoll (“wonderful”). Compare Old English wuldorfull (“glorious”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).