querulous
/ˈkwɛɹ(j)ʊləs/
"querulous" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“querulous” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Often complaining; suggesting a complaint in expression; fretful, whining.
Corpus desk
Index EN-querulous · querulous · English
querulous · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "Q" 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 | querulous |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈkwɛɹ(j)ʊləs/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “querulous” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
querulous is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈkwɛɹ(j)ʊləs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Often complaining; suggesting a complaint in expression; fretful, whining.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for querulous, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Old French querelos, from Late Latin querulōsus, from Latin querulus, from queror (“to complain”). The correct English form is querulous, spelled Q-U-E-R-U-L-O-U-S.
Definition
- 1Often complaining; suggesting a complaint in expression; fretful, whining.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how querulous appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
“Nay, you said as much before,” said the querulous old man, “and yet I was put forth from Kinross, and pillaged by troopers on the road.—[…]”
"But how am I to obtain such treaty?" asked Monsieur, in a querulous tone.
Etymology
From Old French querelos, from Late Latin querulōsus, from Latin querulus, from queror (“to complain”).
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.
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Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.