lachrymose
/ˈlæk.ɹɪ.moʊs/
"lachrymose" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“lachrymose” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Tearful, sorrowful, sad, pertaining to tears, weeping, causing tears or crying.
Corpus desk
Index EN-lachrymose · lachrymose · English
lachrymose · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "L" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | lachrymose |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈlæk.ɹɪ.moʊs/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “lachrymose” in English
Rare enough to double-check
lachrymose is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈlæk.ɹɪ.moʊs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Tearful, sorrowful, sad, pertaining to tears, weeping, causing tears or crying.".
Zero misspellings are on record for lachrymose in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Latin lacrimōsus, from lacrima (“tear”) + -osus (“-ful”), from Old Latin dacrima, from Proto-Indo-European *dakru-, cognate with English tear. The correct English form is lachrymose, spelled L-A-C-H-R-Y-M-O-S-E.
Definition
- 1Tearful, sorrowful, sad, pertaining to tears, weeping, causing tears or crying.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how lachrymose appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
It is true that Limeans were given to interpolating trivial songs into the most exquisite comedies and some lachrymose effects into the austerest music; but at least they never submitted to the boredom of a misplaced veneration.
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin lacrimōsus, from lacrima (“tear”) + -osus (“-ful”), from Old Latin dacrima, from Proto-Indo-European *dakru-, cognate with English tear.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.