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PlainSpell

cheesy

/ˈt͡ʃiːzi/adjective

cheesy is spelled C-H-E-E-S-Y: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 3.8 times per million words in written English, the 13,321st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, cheesy means “Of or relating to cheese” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in cheesy?

Letters6: C-H-E-E-S-Y
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing3.8 times per million words; the 13,321st most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is cheesy?

Cheesy appears 3.8 times per million words in written English, the 13,321st 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 cheesy?

  • /ˈt͡ʃiːzi/

Cheesy has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-cheesy.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of cheesy

  • cheesier comparative
  • cheesiest superlative
  • cheesey

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does cheesy mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Of or relating to cheese.

    This sandwich is full of cheesy goodness.

  2. 2

    Resembling or containing cheese.

    Near-synonym: cheesen (“made of cheese”)

  3. 3

    informalOverdramatic, excessively emotional or clichéd, trite, contrived.

    a cheesy song; a cheesy movie

  4. 4

    informalCheap, of poor quality.

  5. 5

    Exaggerated and likely to be forced or insincere. (of a smile or grin)

  6. 6

    Constituting or involving a technique considered unsporting or inelegant.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Cheesy in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchfromageux (of cheese), kitsch, ringard, niais, quétaine (overdramatic, clichéd)
Germankäsig, Käse- (of cheese), kitschig, schnulzig, voller Klischees (overdramatic, clichéd), billig (cheap)
Portuguesecaseoso (of cheese), cafona, piegas (overdramatic, clichéd)
Spanishcaseoso (of cheese)

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 cheesy come from?

From Middle English chesy, equivalent to cheese + -y. Doublet of caseic. Compare German käsig (“cheesy”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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