tedious
/ˈti.di.əs/adjective
tedious is spelled T-E-D-I-O-U-S: 7 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 3.2 times per million words in written English, the 14,928th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, tedious means “Boring, monotonous, time-consuming, wearisome, livelong” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in tedious?
| Letters | 7: T-E-D-I-O-U-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.2 times per million words; the 14,928th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
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 tedious?
Tedious appears 3.2 times per million words in written English, the 14,928th 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 tedious?
- UK /ˈtiː.dɪəs/
- US /ˈti.di.əs/
- US [ˈti.ɾi.əs]
Tedious 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-tedious.ogg, En-au-tedious.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with tedious?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as tedious (/idiəs/).
Spelled with the same letters in another order: outside.
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 tedious
- more tedious comparative
- most tedious superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does tedious mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Boring, monotonous, time-consuming, wearisome, livelong.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Tedious in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense boring, monotonous:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | fastidieux, laborieux |
| German | ermüdend, langweilig, langwierig, lästig, mühsam, nervtötend |
| Portuguese | entediante, enfadonho, monótono |
| Spanish | tedioso, prolijo |
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 tedious come from?
English tedi(um) + -ous, from Old French tedieus, from Late Latin taediōsus, from Latin taedium (“weariness, tedium”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).