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numerous

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

8 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "numerous", 8-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "numerous" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "numerous" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

numerous is aEnglishdet. It means: An indefinite large number of. Pronounced /ˈnuməɹəs/. It ranks #2,263 in English word frequency.

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Key facts for numerous
PropertyValue
Headwordnumerous
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechDet
IPA/ˈnuməɹəs/
Letters8
Frequency rank#2,263
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of numerous in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for numerous is 8 letters long, classified as adet, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈnuməɹəs/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,263 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "An indefinite large number of.".

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 11 documented wrong-spelling variants for numerous, with forms such as "nmuerous", "nnumerous", and "nuemrous". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English numerous from Latin numerōsus (“numerous, abundant; harmonious”), from numerus (“number”). Doublet of numerose. Analyzeable as numero- + -ous. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is numerous, spelled N-U-M-E-R-O-U-S, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    An indefinite large number of.

Etymology

From Middle English numerous from Latin numerōsus (“numerous, abundant; harmonious”), from numerus (“number”). Doublet of numerose. Analyzeable as numero- + -ous.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: nmuerous,nnumerous,nuemrous,numeorus,numerosu,numerouss,numerrous,numeruos,nummerous,numreous,unmerous

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for numerous

Misspelling Variants of "numerous"

nmuerous8nnumerous9nuemrous8numeorus8numerosu8numerouss9numerrous9numeruos8
Misspelling Variants of "numerous"

Frequency rank: #2,263 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "numerous"?
"numerous" is spelled N-U-M-E-R-O-U-S. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈnuməɹəs/.
What does "numerous" mean?
As a det, "numerous" means: An indefinite large number of.
What are common misspellings of "numerous"?
Common misspellings include "nmuerous", "nnumerous", "nuemrous", "numeorus", "numerosu". The correct spelling is "numerous".
How do you pronounce "numerous"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "numerous" is /ˈnuməɹəs/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "numerous"?
From Middle English numerous from Latin numerōsus (“numerous, abundant; harmonious”), from numerus (“number”). Doublet of numerose. Analyzeable as numero- + -ous. See the full etymology section above for more details.
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Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter N in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.