How many syllables in “sadness”?

“sadness” has 2 syllables: sad·ness

IPA
/ˈsæd.nəs/
Stress
SAD-ness (pattern 1-0)
Division
sad·ness

Pronunciation

Say it likeIPASyllablesCountSource
SAD-ness /ˈsæd.nəs/ s ae d · n ah s 2 CMU dictionary

Syllables are shown in ARPAbet (the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary's phoneme alphabet). Respellings put the stressed syllable in capitals.

Syllables vs. morphemes

Syllables (2)
sad·ness
Morphemes (2)
sad + -ness

The syllable breaks of sadness (sad·ness) line up with its morphemes (sad + -ness): every morpheme boundary is also a syllable boundary, so the word divides the same way for a syllable count and for a morphology exercise.

Count syllables in your own text

Paste a line or a whole poem: syllables, stress, IPA and meter, free and in your browser.

Open the syllable counter →

Pronunciations from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Hyphenation from the hyph_en_US patterns.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many syllables are in "sadness"?
"sadness" has two syllables: sad·ness.
How do you divide "sadness" into syllables?
sad·ness. The syllable breaks of sadness (sad·ness) line up with its morphemes (sad + -ness): every morpheme boundary is also a syllable boundary, so the word divides the same way for a syllable count and for a morphology exercise.
Is this syllable counter free?
Yes. The Fixie syllable counter is free, needs no signup, and runs in your browser; paste any text to count syllables, see stress and IPA.