timorous
/ˈtɪməɹəs/
"timorous" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“timorous” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Tending to be easily frightened; shy, timid.
Corpus desk
Index EN-timorous · timorous · English
timorous · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "T" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | timorous |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈtɪməɹəs/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “timorous” in English
Rare enough to double-check
timorous is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈtɪməɹəs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 7 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for timorous, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Late Middle English timorous (“(adjective) fearful, frightened; causing fear, dreadful, terrible; deferential, modest; (noun) timid people collectively”), borrowed from Old French temoros, temorous, from Medieval Latin timōrōsus, from timōr- (the stem … The correct English form is timorous, spelled T-I-M-O-R-O-U-S.
Definition
- 1Tending to be easily frightened; shy, timid.
- 2Feeling fear; afraid, fearful, frightened.
- 3Fastidious in dressing.
- 4Fired with intense feeling; passionate.
- 5Hard to manage; difficult, tiresome.
- 6Causing dread or fear; dreadful, terrible.
- 7Humble, modest; also, showing reverence; respectful, reverent, reverential.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how timorous appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
But thou now O temerous ⁊ weake ſely ſhepe, thynke yt ſufficient for thee, onely to walke after me, which am thy ſhepehearde ⁊ gouernor: […]
Thys faute of puſillanimitye and tymorous mynde, letteth a man alſo mani tymes from the doynge of manye good thynges, whyche (if he tooke a good ſtomake to hym in the truſt of Gods helpe) he were wel able to do.
Etymology
From Late Middle English timorous (“(adjective) fearful, frightened; causing fear, dreadful, terrible; deferential, modest; (noun) timid people collectively”), borrowed from Old French temoros, temorous, from Medieval Latin timōrōsus, from timōr- (the stem of Latin timor (“dread, fear”)) + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of; prone to’). Timor is derived from timeō (“to be afraid of, fear”) (further origin uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *temH- (“dark”)) + -or (suffix forming third-declension masculine abstract nouns). Doublet of timoroso.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.