petrous
adjective
petrous is spelled P-E-T-R-O-U-S: 7 letters. It appears about once in every 32 million words in written English, the 171,907th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, petrous means “Resembling rock or stone in its hardness” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in petrous?
| Letters | 7: P-E-T-R-O-U-S |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 32 million words; the 171,907th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is petrous?
Petrous appears about once in every 32 million words in written English, the 171,907th 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).
What rhymes with petrous?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as petrous.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: posture, proteus.
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).
What does petrous mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Resembling rock or stone in its hardness.
- 2
Of the dense portion of the temporal bone that protects the inner ear.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Petrous in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense anatomy: of the dense portion of the temporal bone:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Spanish | petroso |
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 petrous come from?
From Middle English, borrowed from Middle French petreux, from Latin petrōsus, from petra, from Ancient Greek πέτρα (pétra).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).