How do you pronounce sinful?

The recorded pronunciation is /ˈsɪnfl̩/.

Where does sinful come from?

It is traced to Middle English.

sinful

/ˈsɪnfl̩/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.34 in modern English

Syllables: sin-ful
IPA: /ˈsɪnfl̩/

Scrabble Score

Letters

Syllables

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Having sinned; guilty of sin.

adj

Constituting a sin; morally or religiously wrong; wicked; evil.

adj

decadent (luxuriously self-indulgent)

Colloquial

Example Sentences

"I take a whiff of the most sincerely sinful cookies in the history of the world. It’s a recipe I saw in People magazine once at the dentist's office, and Dr. Segal would not approve of its ingredients (or maybe she would, in the interest of keeping her business afloat)."

Etymology

From Middle English synful, senful, sunful, from Old English synful (“sinful, guilty, wicked, corrupt”), equivalent to sin + -ful. Compare Dutch zondevol (“sinful”), German sündevoll (“sinful”), Danish syndefuld (“sinful”), Swedish syndfull (“sinful”), Icelandic syndfullur (“sinful”).

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: synful
Suffix: sin

Usage

Colloquial

Inflected Forms

more sinful (comparative) sinfuller (comparative) most sinful (superlative) sinfullest (superlative)

Derived Forms

sinfully sinfulness unsinful

Synonyms

sinny peccant diabolical unholy abandoned arrant bad bad apple bad seed baleful scurrilous baneful

Antonyms

sinless unsullied righteous

Rhymes With

skinful