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nauseous

/ˈnɔʃəs/adjective

nauseous is spelled N-A-U-S-E-O-U-S: 8 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 26,420th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “nauseated vs nauseous” about 6,600 times a month (Google, United States). As an adjective, nauseous means “Causing nausea; sickening or disgusting” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in nauseous?

Letters8: N-A-U-S-E-O-U-S
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing1.2 times per million words; the 26,420th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people 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); 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 nauseous?

Nauseous appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 26,420th 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 nauseous?

  • UK /ˈnɔːziːəs/
  • UK /ˈnɔːsiːəs/
  • US /ˈnɔʃəs/

Nauseous has 2 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-nauseous1.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-nauseous2.wav, En-us-nauseous.oga, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with nauseous

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

nauseated vs nauseous6,600 G

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Forms of nauseous

  • more nauseous comparative
  • most nauseous superlative

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

What does nauseous mean?

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

adjective

  1. 1

    Causing nausea; sickening or disgusting.

  2. 2

    obsoleteInclined to nausea; sickly, squeamish.

  3. 3

    proscribedAfflicted with nausea; sick.

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

Nauseous in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchnauséabond (causing nausea), nauséeux (afflicted with nausea)
Germanwiderlich, Übelkeit erregend, Brechreiz fördernd, ekelerregend (causing nausea)
Spanishnauseabundo, nauseoso (causing nausea), con náusea, con náuseas, sentir náusea (afflicted with nausea)
Portugueseenjoado (afflicted with nausea)

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 nauseous come from?

From Latin nauseōsus (“causing nausea”), corresponding synchronically to nausea + -ous.

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

What to look up after nauseous