# grievous

> English word · Adjective · IPA /ˈɡɹiː.vəs/ · frequency rank #22,986

## Definitions
1. Causing grief, pain, or sorrow.
2. Serious, grave, dire, or dangerous.

## Etymology
From Middle English grevous, from Anglo-Norman grevous, from Old French grever, from Latin gravō (“I burden”). Developed in the 13th century. Equivalent to grief + -ous.

## Easily confused with
- **grieves** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grieves-vs-grievous)

## Common misspellings (11)
`ggrievous`, `girevous`, `greivous`, `grieovus`, `grievosu`, `grievouss`, `grievuos`, `grievvous`, `griveous`, `grrievous`, `rgievous`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/grievous