yawning
/ˈjɔːnɪŋ/noun, adjective, verb
yawning is spelled Y-A-W-N-I-N-G: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,462nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, yawning means “The action of the verb yawn” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of yawning is yawnings.
How many letters and syllables are in yawning?
| Letters | 7: Y-A-W-N-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.1 times per million words; the 27,462nd 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 yawning?
Yawning appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,462nd 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 yawning?
- /ˈjɔːnɪŋ/
Yawning 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Persent101-yawning.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of yawning
- yawnings plural
- more yawning comparative
- most yawning superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does yawning mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The action of the verb yawn.
adjective
- 1
That yawns or yawn.
yawning commuters
- 2
Wide open.
a yawning chasm; the shark's yawning jaws
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of yawn
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).