Skip to main content
PlainSpell

jealousy

jeal·ous·y/ˈd͡ʒɛl.ə.si/noun

jealousy is spelled J-E-A-L-O-U-S-Y: 8 letters and 3 syllables (jeal·ous·y). It appears 5.5 times per million words in written English, the 10,519th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, jealousy means “A state of being jealous; a jealous attitude” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of jealousy is jealousies.

How many letters and syllables are in jealousy?

Letters8: J-E-A-L-O-U-S-Y
Syllables3: jeal·ous·y
In writing5.5 times per million words; the 10,519th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is jealousy?

Jealousy appears 5.5 times per million words in written English, the 10,519th 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 jealousy?

  • /ˈd͡ʒɛl.ə.si/

Jealousy has 3 syllables, split jeal·ous·y in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-jealousy.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of jealousy

  • jealousies plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does jealousy mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A state of being jealous; a jealous attitude.

    a man of many jealousies

  2. 2

    archaicA close concern for someone or something, solicitude, vigilance.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Jealousy in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchjalousie (jealous attitude (e.g. fear of infidelity)), envie, convoitise (a resentment towards someone for a perceived…)
GermanEifersucht, Missgunst (jealous attitude (e.g. fear of infidelity)), Neid (a resentment towards someone for a perceived…)
Portugueseciúme, ciúmes (jealous attitude (e.g. fear of infidelity)), inveja (a resentment towards someone for a perceived…)
Spanishcelo, celos, celotipia, celera, celambre, achares (jealous attitude (e.g. fear of infidelity))

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 jealousy come from?

From Middle English jalousie, from Old French jalousie, equivalent to jealous + -y. Doublet of jalousie. Related also to zeal, zealous. Displaced native Old English æfest and Old English nīþ.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after jealousy