odious
/ˈoʊ.di.əs/adjective
odious is spelled O-D-I-O-U-S: 6 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 38,416th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, odious means “Arousing or meriting strong dislike, aversion, or intense displeasure” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in odious?
| Letters | 6: O-D-I-O-U-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 38,416th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is odious?
Odious appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 38,416th 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 odious?
- UK /ˈəʊ.di.əs/
- UK /ˈəʊ.d͡ʒəs/
- US /ˈoʊ.di.əs/
Odious 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: En-us-odious.ogg, En-au-odious.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with odious?
2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as odious from its last stressed vowel (/oʊdiəs/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of odious
- more odious comparative
- most odious superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does odious mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Arousing or meriting strong dislike, aversion, or intense displeasure.
Scrubbing the toilets in the bar at the end of a Saturday night is an odious task.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Odious in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense arousing strong dislike:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | odieux |
| German | abscheulich, scheußlich, abstoßend, widerlich, widerwärtig, gehässig |
| Portuguese | odioso |
| Spanish | odioso |
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 odious come from?
From Middle English odious, from Old French odieus, from Latin odiōsus, from odium (“hate”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).