heinous
/ˈheɪnəs/adjective
heinous is spelled H-E-I-N-O-U-S: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.8 times per million words in written English, the 20,906th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, heinous means “Totally reprehensible” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in heinous?
| Letters | 7: H-E-I-N-O-U-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.8 times per million words; the 20,906th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is heinous?
Heinous appears 1.8 times per million words in written English, the 20,906th 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 heinous?
- US /ˈheɪnəs/
- UK /ˈhiːnəs/
Heinous 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: En-uk-heinous.ogg, En-us-heinous.ogg, En-au-heinous.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with heinous?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as heinous (/eɪnəs/).
Spelled with the same letters in another order: inhouse.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of heinous
- more heinous comparative
- most heinous superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does heinous mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Totally reprehensible.
I hope they catch the person responsible for that heinous crime.
- 2
Bad, evil or villainous.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Heinous in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense totally reprehensible:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | atroce |
| German | abscheulich, verabscheuungswürdig |
| Portuguese | hediondo |
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 heinous come from?
From Middle English heynous, from Anglo-Norman hainous, heinous (compare French haineux) from Old French haïr, hadir (“to hate”) (compare Old French en-hadir (“to become filled with hate”)), from Frankish *hattjan (“to hate”) (compare Middle English hetien). More at hate. The fluctuation between pronunciations with /eɪ/ and /iː/ is old; the former reflects adoption of an unmonophthongised pronunciation of Old French -ai-, while the latter reflects a monophthongised form.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).