heterosis
noun
heterosis is spelled H-E-T-E-R-O-S-I-S: 9 letters and 4 syllables. It appears about once in every 28 million words in written English, the 159,707th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, heterosis means “The tendency of cross-breeding to produce an animal or plant with a greater hardiness than its parents; hybrid vigour” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of heterosis is heteroses.
How many letters and syllables are in heterosis?
| Letters | 9: H-E-T-E-R-O-S-I-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 28 million words; the 159,707th 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 heterosis?
Heterosis appears about once in every 28 million words in written English, the 159,707th 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 heterosis?
Heterosis has 4 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).
Forms of heterosis
- heteroses plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does heterosis mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The tendency of cross-breeding to produce an animal or plant with a greater hardiness than its parents; hybrid vigour.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does heterosis come from?
From hetero- + -osis.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).