nausea
nau·sea/ˈnɔzi.ə/noun
nausea is spelled N-A-U-S-E-A: 6 letters and 2 syllables (nau·sea). It appears 3.5 times per million words in written English, the 14,106th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “nausea vs nauseated” about 20 times a month (Bing, United States). As a noun, nausea means “A feeling of illness or discomfort in the digestive system, usually characterized by a strong urge to vomit” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of nausea is nauseas or nauseae.
How many letters and syllables are in nausea?
| Letters | 6: N-A-U-S-E-A |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: nau·sea |
| In writing | 3.5 times per million words; the 14,106th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people 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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How common is nausea?
Nausea appears 3.5 times per million words in written English, the 14,106th 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 nausea?
- UK /ˈnɔːzɪə/
- UK /ˈnɔːsɪə/
- US /ˈnɔzi.ə/
Nausea has 2 syllables, split nau·sea in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-nausea.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with nausea
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of nausea
- nauseas plural
- nauseae plural
- nauseæ plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does nausea mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A feeling of illness or discomfort in the digestive system, usually characterized by a strong urge to vomit.
He got nausea after two hours of travelling on the plane.
- 2
Strong dislike or disgust.
- 3
Motion sickness.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Nausea in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | nausée , dégoût |
| German | Übelkeit , Ekel |
| Portuguese | náusea, enjoo , desgosto, asco, repulsão |
| Spanish | náusea , repulsión, asco |
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 nausea come from?
From Middle English nausea, a borrowing from Latin nausea, from Ancient Greek ναυσία (nausía, “sea-sickness”), from ναῦς (naûs, “ship”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)neh₂-. Displaced native Old English wlǣtta.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).