spurious
/ˈspjʊə.ɹi.əs/adjective
spurious is spelled S-P-U-R-I-O-U-S: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 30,418th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, spurious means “False, not authentic, not genuine” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in spurious?
| Letters | 8: S-P-U-R-I-O-U-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 30,418th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; 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 spurious?
Spurious appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 30,418th 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).
How do you pronounce spurious?
- UK /ˈspjʊə.ɹi.əs/
- UK /ˈspjɔː-/
- British /ˈspjɵː.ɹɪjəs/
Spurious has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-spurious.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with spurious?
2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as spurious from its last stressed vowel (/ʊəɹiəs/, British pronunciation):
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).
Forms of spurious
- more spurious comparative
- most spurious superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does spurious mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
False, not authentic, not genuine.
His argument was spurious and had no validity.
- 2
Extraneous, stray; not relevant or wanted.
I tried to concentrate on the matter in hand, but spurious thoughts kept intruding.
- 3
archaicBastardly, illegitimate.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Spurious in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | faux, trompeur |
| German | unecht, gefälscht, falsch , herumirrend, beiläufig, ungewollt |
| Portuguese | espúrio |
| Spanish | espurio |
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 spurious come from?
Borrowed from Late Latin spurius (“illegitimate, bastardly”), possibly related to sperno or from Etruscan.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).