grievous
/ˈɡɹiː.vəs/adjective
grievous is spelled G-R-I-E-V-O-U-S: 8 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.5 times per million words in written English, the 22,965th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, grievous means “Causing grief, pain, or sorrow” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in grievous?
| Letters | 8: G-R-I-E-V-O-U-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.5 times per million words; the 22,965th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 grievous?
Grievous appears 1.5 times per million words in written English, the 22,965th 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 grievous?
- /ˈɡɹiː.vəs/
- /ɡɹiː.viː.əs/
Grievous 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)-Vininn126-grievous.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of grievous
- more grievous comparative
- most grievous superlative
- greuous
- greevous
- gravious
- grievious
- grevious
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does grievous mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Causing grief, pain, or sorrow.
- 2
Serious, grave, dire, or dangerous.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Grievous in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | schmerzlich , ernst, ernsthaft, schwerwiegend |
| French | grave |
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 grievous come from?
From Middle English grevous, from Anglo-Norman grevous, from Old French grever, from Latin gravō (“to burden”). Developed in the 13th century. Equivalent to grief + -ous.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).