serous
/ˈsiːɹəs/
"serous" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“serous” is uncommon English (frequency #67,821 among 54,294 “S” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #67,821
- frequency rank, English
- 54,294
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Containing, secreting, or resembling serum; watery; a fluid or discharge that is pale yellow and transparent, usually representing something of a benign nature. (This contrasts with the term sangui...
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | serous |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈsiːɹəs/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #67,821 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “serous” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
serous is uncommon English at frequency #67,821 among 54,294 “S” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈsiːɹəs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Containing, secreting, or resembling serum; watery; a fluid or discharge that is pale yellow and transparent, usually representing something of a benign nature. (This contrasts with the term sangui...".
serous has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French séreux, from Latin serosus, from serum. The correct English form is serous, spelled S-E-R-O-U-S.
Definition
- 1Containing, secreting, or resembling serum; watery; a fluid or discharge that is pale yellow and transparent, usually representing something of a benign nature. (This contrasts with the term sanguine, which means blood-tinged and usually harmful.)
Etymology
From French séreux, from Latin serosus, from serum.
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); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “serous”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-E-R-O-U-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsiːɹəs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.