heterogeneous
/ˌhɛt.(ə.)ɹəˈd͡ʒiː.nɪəs/adjective
heterogeneous is spelled H-E-T-E-R-O-G-E-N-E-O-U-S: 13 letters and 5 syllables. It appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 26,092nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, heterogeneous means “Diverse in kind or nature; composed of diverse parts” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in heterogeneous?
| Letters | 13: H-E-T-E-R-O-G-E-N-E-O-U-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 5 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.2 times per million words; the 26,092nd 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 heterogeneous?
Heterogeneous appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 26,092nd 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 heterogeneous?
- UK /ˌhɛt.(ə.)ɹəˈd͡ʒiː.nɪəs/
- UK /ˌhɛt.(ə)ˈɹɒd͡ʒ.ə.nəs/
- UK /ˌhɛt.(ə.)ɹəʊˈd͡ʒiː.nɪəs/
Heterogeneous has 5 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-us-heterogeneous.ogg, En-au-heterogeneous.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of heterogeneous
- more heterogeneous comparative
- most heterogeneous superlative
- heterogenous
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does heterogeneous mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Diverse in kind or nature; composed of diverse parts.
He had a large and heterogeneous collection of books.
- 2
Incommensurable because of different kinds.
- 3
Having more than one phase (solid, liquid, gas) present in a system or process.
- 4
Visibly consisting of different components.
- 5
Of a network comprising different types of computers, potentially with vastly differing memory sizes, processing power and even basic underlying architecture; alternatively, of a data resource with multiple types of formats.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Heterogeneous in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense diverse in kind:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | hétérogène |
| German | heterogen |
| Portuguese | heterogêneo |
| Spanish | heterogéneo |
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 heterogeneous come from?
From Medieval Latin heterogeneus, from Ancient Greek ἑτερογενής (heterogenḗs, “of different kinds”), from ἕτερος (héteros, “other, another, different”) + γένος (génos, “kind”). Compare hetero- and -ous.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).