Sinful

How to spell sinful

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce sinful

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does sinful mean?

1. adjectiveWicked or immoral, or, more loosely, indulgent in a way that feels guilty.

Sinful in a sentence

• The sermon warned the congregation against sinful behaviour.

• She described the rich chocolate cake as positively sinful.

Where does sinful come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The word grows from the Old English noun 'synn', meaning an offence or wrongdoing, especially a transgression against divine law, combined with the native suffix '-ful', which means 'full of' or 'characterised by'. The root 'synn' belongs to the older Germanic family and may share a distant link with the Latin idea of being guilty, since some scholars connect it to a sense of 'it is true' that one is at fault, though that thread is uncertain. The adjective form 'synnfull' is recorded in Old English well before the Norman period, making it one of the genuinely old religious words of English. Over the centuries the meaning broadened from strictly theological transgression to a lighter, almost playful sense of something deliciously indulgent, as in a 'sinful' dessert. The spelling trap is simply the single 'l' in '-ful' as a suffix, even though the free-standing word 'full' has two; many adults instinctively want to double it.

How the word is built

• sin (wrongdoing, offence against moral or religious law)
• -ful (full of, characterised by)