Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

porous

/ˈpɔɹəs/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.37 in modern English

Syllables: por-ous
IPA: /ˈpɔɹəs/

8

Scrabble Score

6

Letters

2

Syllables

5

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Full of tiny pores that allow fluids or gasses to pass through.

adj

With many gaps or loopholes.

Example Sentences

"Sponges are porous so they can filter water while trapping food."
"Concrete is porous, so water will slowly filter through it."
"However, Wolves ^([sic]) porous defence opened up again to gift Sunderland a foothold in the game - Sessegnon sweeping in a Zenden corner that was inexplicably allowed to bounce in the six-yard box."
"[…] a porous border consequently positioned migrants from Mexico and ethnic Mexicans residing in the United States as potential terrorists."

Etymology

From Old French poros, from Latin porus (“an opening”). By surface analysis, pore + -ous.

Word Breakdown

Root: *per- (fare)

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈpɔɹəs/
British English: /ˈpɔːɹəs/

Inflected Forms

more porous (comparative) most porous (superlative)

Derived Forms

aporous biporous electroporous hyperporous imporous macroporous mesoporous microporous monoporous multiporous nanoporous nonporous

Phrases

porous portal

Synonyms

permeable poriferous holey

Rhymes With

morris chorus doris horace taurus horus thesaurus tyrannosaurus mcmorris brontosaurus stegosaurus dilophosaurus

Questions

How do you pronounce porous?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈpɔɹəs/.
What does porous mean?: Full of tiny pores that allow fluids or gasses to pass through.
Where does porous come from?: From Old French poros, from Latin porus (“an opening”). By surface analysis, pore + -ous.

How to pronounce porous

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “porous”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈpɔɹəs/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “porous”.
Repeat and practice — Say “porous” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.