scabious
adjective, noun
scabious is spelled S-C-A-B-I-O-U-S: 8 letters. It appears about once in every 40 million words in written English, the 194,306th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, scabious means “Having scabs” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in scabious?
| Letters | 8: S-C-A-B-I-O-U-S |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 40 million words; the 194,306th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is scabious?
Scabious appears about once in every 40 million words in written English, the 194,306th 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).
Forms of scabious
- more scabious comparative
- most scabious superlative
- scabiouses plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does scabious mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Having scabs.
- 2
Of or pertaining to scabies.
noun
- 1
Any of various herbaceous plants of the genus Scabiosa.
- 2
Any of several plants of the genus Knautia.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Scabious in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense any plant of the genus Scabiosa:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | scabieuse |
| German | Skabiose |
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 scabious come from?
From Medieval Latin scabiōsus (“scabious”), from Latin scabiēs (see scabies); partly reinterpretable as scab + -ious.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).