calamitous
ca·la·mit·ous/kəˈlæmɪtəs/adjective
calamitous is spelled C-A-L-A-M-I-T-O-U-S: 10 letters and 4 syllables (ca·la·mit·ous). It appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 57,423rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, calamitous means “Causing or involving calamity; disastrous” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in calamitous?
| Letters | 10: C-A-L-A-M-I-T-O-U-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4: ca·la·mit·ous |
| In writing | about once in every 4 million words; the 57,423rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is calamitous?
Calamitous appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 57,423rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce calamitous?
- US /kəˈlæmɪtəs/
Calamitous has 4 syllables, split ca·la·mit·ous in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-calamitous.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of calamitous
- more calamitous comparative
- most calamitous superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does calamitous mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Causing or involving calamity; disastrous.
The city was struck by a calamitous cyclone.
- 2
obsoleteOf a person: involved in a calamity; hence, distressed, miserable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Calamitous in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense causing or involving calamity – see also disastrous:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | calamiteux, désastreux |
| Portuguese | calamitoso, desastroso |
| Spanish | calamitoso, desastroso |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does calamitous come from?
Borrowed from French calamiteux (“calamitous”) (see French -eux, English -ous), from Latin calamitōsus (“destructive, disastrous, ruinous, calamitous”), a contraction of calamitātōsus, from calamitāt- + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of; prone to’ forming adjectives from nouns); calamitāt- is the oblique stem of calamitās (“disaster, misfortune, calamity; damage, harm; loss”), from *calamis (“damaged”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₂- (“to beat; to break”)) + -tās (suffix forming abstract nouns denoting a condition or state). By surface analysis, calamity + -ous.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).