piteous
"piteous" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“piteous” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Provoking pity, compassion, or sympathy.
Corpus desk
Index EN-piteous · piteous · English
piteous · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "P" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | piteous |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “piteous” in English
Rare enough to double-check
piteous is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for piteous in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English pitous, from Old French piteus, pitus. The correct English form is piteous, spelled P-I-T-E-O-U-S.
Definition
- 1Provoking pity, compassion, or sympathy.
- 2Showing devotion to God.
- 3Showing compassion.
- 4Of little importance or value.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how piteous appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
[…] with his strong arms He fastened on my neck, and bellowed out As he’d burst heaven; threw him on my father; Told the most piteous tale of Lear and him That ever ear receiv’d;
1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia, London: T. Payne & Son and T. Cadell, Volume 2, Book 3, Chapter 4, p. 51, […] my strength, madam, is almost all gone away, and when I do any hard work, it’s quite a piteous sight to see me, for I am all in a tremble after it, just as if I had an ague […]
Etymology
From Middle English pitous, from Old French piteus, pitus.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.