luminous
/ˈluːmɪnəs/adjective
luminous is spelled L-U-M-I-N-O-U-S: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 1.7 times per million words in written English, the 21,209th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, luminous means “Emitting light; glowing brightly; shining” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in luminous?
| Letters | 8: L-U-M-I-N-O-U-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.7 times per million words; the 21,209th 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 luminous?
Luminous appears 1.7 times per million words in written English, the 21,209th 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 luminous?
- /ˈluːmɪnəs/
Luminous has 3 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-luminous.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of luminous
- more luminous comparative
- most luminous superlative
- luminious
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does luminous mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Emitting light; glowing brightly; shining.
- 2
Brightly illuminated.
- 3
Clear; enlightening; easy to understand.
a luminous explanation
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Luminous in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense emitting light; glowing brightly:
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 luminous come from?
Borrowed from Middle French lumineus, from Latin lūminōsus.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).