tenuis
/ˈtɛnjuɪs/adjective, noun
tenuis is spelled T-E-N-U-I-S: 6 letters. It appears about once in every 16 million words in written English, the 119,826th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, tenuis means “Of Greek consonants, neither aspirated nor voiced, as [p], [t]” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in tenuis?
| Letters | 6: T-E-N-U-I-S |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 16 million words; the 119,826th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is tenuis?
Tenuis appears about once in every 16 million words in written English, the 119,826th 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 tenuis?
- UK /ˈtɛnjuːɪs/
- UK /ˈtɛnuːɪs/
- US /ˈtɛnjuɪs/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Forms of tenuis
- tenues plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does tenuis mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Of Greek consonants, neither aspirated nor voiced, as [p], [t],
- 2
Of obstruents in other languages, not voiced, aspirated, glottalized, or otherwise different in phonation from the prototypical values of the voiceless IPA letters ([p], [t], [k], [f], [θ], [s], [ʃ], etc.).
noun
- 1
A tenuis consonant.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does tenuis come from?
Unadapted borrowing from Latin tenuis (“thin, fine; weak”). Doublet of thin.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).