Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

shameful

/ˈʃeɪmfəl/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.57 in modern English

Syllables: shame-ful
IPA: /ˈʃeɪmfəl/

16

Scrabble Score

8

Letters

2

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Causing or meriting shame or disgrace; disgraceful

adj

Giving offense.

Example Sentences

"shameful publicity"
"a shameful act"
""They have turned a great old English institution into a shameful clip-joint. It's a shuddering, howling tragedy.""

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *skamō Proto-West Germanic *skamu Old English sċamu Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós Proto-Germanic *fullaz Proto-Germanic *-fullaz Old English -ful Old English sċeomfull Middle English schameful English shameful From Middle English schameful, schamfull, from Old English *sċeamfull, sċeomfull, equivalent to shame + -ful. Cognate with Danish skamfuld (“shameful, shamefast, ashamed”).

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: schameful, *sċeamfull

Inflected Forms

more shameful (comparative) most shameful (superlative)

Derived Forms

nonshameful shamefully shamefulness unshameful

Synonyms

despicable black disgraceful ignominious inglorious opprobrious scandalous shocking

Questions

How do you pronounce shameful?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈʃeɪmfəl/.
What does shameful mean?: Causing or meriting shame or disgrace; disgraceful
Where does shameful come from?: It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce shameful

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “shameful”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈʃeɪmfəl/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “shameful”.
Repeat and practice — Say “shameful” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.