worthless
/ˈwɝθ.ləs/adjective
worthless is spelled W-O-R-T-H-L-E-S-S: 9 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 6.6 times per million words in written English, the 9,313th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, worthless means “Having no worth or use; without value” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in worthless?
| Letters | 9: W-O-R-T-H-L-E-S-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 6.6 times per million words; the 9,313th 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 worthless?
Worthless appears 6.6 times per million words in written English, the 9,313th 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 worthless?
- UK /ˈwɜːθ.ləs/
- US /ˈwɝθ.ləs/
Worthless has 2 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-worthless.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of worthless
- more worthless comparative
- worthlesser comparative
- most worthless superlative
- worthlessest superlative
- wuffless
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does worthless mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Having no worth or use; without value.
Don’t be a worthless slouch! Go get yourself a job.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Worthless in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense not having worth and use; without value – see also inconsequential, useless:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | misérable, ne vaut rien, nul, sans valeur |
| German | wertlos, nutzlos, nichtsnutzig |
| Portuguese | sem valor, inútil |
| Spanish | sin valor, sin ningún valor, despreciable, no tener valor, no tener ningún valor, no valer nada |
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 worthless come from?
From Middle English *worthles, from Old English weorþlēas (“worthless”), equivalent to worth + -less. Cognate with Dutch waardeloos (“worthless”), German wertlos (“worthless”), Swedish värdelös (“worthless”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).