Miserable

How to spell miserable

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce miserable

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does miserable mean?

1. adjectiveFeeling or causing great unhappiness, discomfort, or wretchedness.

Miserable in a sentence

• The long delay at the airport made everyone miserable.

• A leaking roof and no heating made the flat miserable to live in.

Where does miserable come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin miserabilis, meaning 'pitiable' or 'deserving of pity', which was built on the verb miserari, 'to lament or feel pity', and ultimately on the adjective miser, meaning 'wretched, unhappy'. English took it in during the 1400s by way of Old French miserable, and at first it leaned on that older sense of arousing pity in others. Over time it broadened so that it described the unhappy person directly, not just the pity they earned. The very same Latin miser sits inside the noun 'miser', the hoarder of money who lives wretchedly, and inside 'misery' and 'commiserate'. The spelling trap is that quiet middle: writers expect the er to be doubled or to vanish into a schwa, but it is simply mis-er-able, three plain syllables echoing the root miser.

How the word is built

• miser- (from miser: wretched, unhappy)
• -able (adjective suffix)