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sweaty

[ˈswɛɾi]adjective, noun

sweaty is spelled S-W-E-A-T-Y: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 3.6 times per million words in written English, the 13,695th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, sweaty means “Covered in sweat” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in sweaty?

Letters6: S-W-E-A-T-Y
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing3.6 times per million words; the 13,695th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

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).

How common is sweaty?

Sweaty appears 3.6 times per million words in written English, the 13,695th 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 sweaty?

  • /ˈswɛti/
  • US [ˈswɛɾi]

Sweaty has 2 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-sweaty.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of sweaty

  • sweatier comparative
  • sweatiest superlative
  • sweaties plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does sweaty mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Covered in sweat.

    John felt better after changing out of his sweaty clothes.

  2. 2

    Having a tendency to sweat.

    She had never met someone so sweaty.

  3. 3

    Likely to cause one to sweat.

    It was a hot and sweaty day.

  4. 4

    Caused by sweat.

    That sweaty odour is disgusting.

  5. 5

    Strenuous; laborious; exhausting.

    He resented being asked to do such a sweaty task.

  6. 6

    slangExtremely (and possibly inappropriately) obsessed with winning.

    Watch out for that sweaty team.

  7. 7

    slangAttracting many extremely competitive players.

    I stick to casual because ranked lobbies are way too sweaty.

noun

  1. 1

    One who is sweaty.

  2. 2

    informalInformal sportswear, such as a sweatshirt, pair of sweatpants or a sweatsuit.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Sweaty in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchen sueur, moite, suant, en nage (covered in sweat), sudatoire (likely to cause one to sweat)
Germanverschwitzt (covered in sweat), schweißtreibend (likely to cause one to sweat)
Portuguesesuado (covered in sweat), de suor (caused by sweat)
Spanishsudado, sudoriento (covered in sweat), sudoroso (having a tendency to sweat)

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 sweaty come from?

From Middle English swety, equivalent to sweat + -y.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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