Meaning

  1. Causing pain or distress, either physical or mental.
  2. Afflicted or suffering with pain (of a body part or, formerly, of a person).
  3. Requiring effort or labor; difficult, laborious.
  4. Painstaking; careful; industrious.
  5. (informal) Very bad, poor.

Frequency

B2
Pronounced as (IPA)
/ˈpeɪn.fəl/
Etymology

In summary

From Middle English paynful, peinful, peynful, paynefull, peynefull, equivalent to pain + -ful. Compare Danish pinefuld (“painful”).

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