# squeamish

> English word · Adjective · IPA /ˈskwiːmɪʃ/ · frequency rank #45,674

## Definitions
1. Easily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseated or nervous; oversensitive.
2. Averse or reluctant.

## Etymology
Origin obscure. Likely a merger of earlier squeamous (“squeamish”), from Middle English squaimous, queimous, from Anglo-Norman escoimus, escoymous, of unknown origin; and dialectal English sweamish, sweemish (“faint, squeamish”), from sweam (“dizziness, sudden qualm of sickness”) and dialectal sweem (“to swoon, be faint, be overcome, feel sick”), from Middle English swemen (“to grieve, make suffer, be faint of heart”), from Old English *swǣman (“to grieve, trouble, afflict”). If so, then related to swim (“to be dizzy, swoon”). See also sweam.

## Common misspellings (13)
`qsueamish`, `sqeuamish`, `sqqueamish`, `squaemish`, `squeaimsh`, `squeamihs`, `squeamishh`, `squeamissh`, `squeammish`, `squeamsih`, `squemaish`, `ssqueamish`, `suqeamish`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/squeamish