How long does it take to read Pride and Prejudice?
Jane Austen · 1813 · 122,685 words · Classic romance
Pride and Prejudice is about 122,685 words. At the average adult silent reading speed of 238 words per minute, that takes about 8 hr 35 min. Read aloud it's closer to 11 hr 10 min, and as an audiobook at a comfortable narration pace, around 13 hr 38 min.
Pride and Prejudice: reading time by speed
| Reading style | WPM | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Average silent reading | 238 | 8 hr 35 min |
| Reading aloud | 183 | 11 hr 10 min |
| Audiobook narration | 150 | 13 hr 38 min |
| Fast reader | 400 | 5 hr 7 min |
Based on a 122,685-word estimate. Speeds from our sources & methodology page. Your own pace may differ — the reading speed test measures it.
About Pride and Prejudice's length
One of the longer classics commonly assigned, Pride and Prejudice runs over 120,000 words of Austen's period prose. Readers new to early-19th-century English typically read it well below their usual speed, so budget generously.
For context, at 122,685 words Pride and Prejudice is longer than a typical novel — a typical adult novel runs around 90,000 words. That puts a focused read at roughly 8 hr 35 min for an average reader, before accounting for the density of the prose or how often you stop to re-read.
How to finish Pride and Prejudice on a schedule
If you'd rather pace it than binge it, here's how much daily reading it takes to finish at the average 238 WPM:
- In 3 days: about 2 hr 52 min a day
- In a week: about 1 hr 14 min a day
- In two weeks: about 37 min a day
- In a month: about 17 min a day
Prefer the audiobook?
At a comfortable 150 WPM narration pace, Pride and Prejudice is about 13 hr 38 min of listening — though published audiobook editions are often shorter, since many narrators read faster, and most apps let you speed up to 1.25× or 1.5×. If you listen rather than read, Audible carries most editions, and our audiobook length calculator lets you check the runtime at any playback speed.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to read Pride and Prejudice?
At the average adult silent reading speed of 238 words per minute, Pride and Prejudice (about 122,685 words) takes roughly 8 hr 35 min. A faster reader at 400 WPM finishes in about 5 hr 7 min; reading aloud takes about 11 hr 10 min.
How many words is Pride and Prejudice?
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is approximately 122,685 words. Word counts vary slightly between editions and translations, so treat this as a close estimate rather than an exact figure.
How long is the Pride and Prejudice audiobook?
At a comfortable narration pace of 150 WPM, Pride and Prejudice works out to about 13 hr 38 min of listening. Published audiobook runtimes are often a little shorter, because many narrators read faster than 150 WPM — and you can speed most apps up to 1.25× or 1.5×.
Can I read Pride and Prejudice in one sitting?
It's a stretch for most readers. At about 8 hr 35 min of focused reading, Pride and Prejudice is more realistically a two-to-three-session book — see the reading plan above to pace it.
How long to read other books
- Atomic Habits72,000 words · 5 hr 3 min
- 198488,942 words · 6 hr 14 min
- The Great Gatsby47,094 words · 3 hr 18 min
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone76,944 words · 5 hr 23 min
- Animal Farm29,966 words · 2 hr 6 min
- The Hobbit95,022 words · 6 hr 39 min
Work it out for any text
Reading a book that isn't listed, or a manuscript of your own? Paste it into the reading time calculator for an instant estimate, or find your personal reading speed with the words-per-minute test and recalculate from there.
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