How do you pronounce squeamish?

The recorded pronunciation is /ˈskwiːmɪʃ/.

Where does squeamish come from?

It is traced to Middle English.

squeamish

/ˈskwiːmɪʃ/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.63 in modern English

Syllables: squea-mish
IPA: /ˈskwiːmɪʃ/

Scrabble Score

Letters

Syllables

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Easily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseated or nervous; oversensitive.

adj

Averse or reluctant.

Example Sentences

"He might have made a good doctor, had he not been so squeamish at the sight of blood."

Etymology

Origin obscure. Likely a merger of earlier squeamous (“squeamish”), from Middle English squaimous, queimous, from Anglo-Norman escoimus, escoymous, of unknown origin; and dialectal English sweamish, sweemish (“faint, squeamish”), from sweam (“dizziness, sudden qualm of sickness”) and dialectal sweem (“to swoon, be faint, be overcome, feel sick”), from Middle English swemen (“to grieve, make suffer, be faint of heart”), from Old English *swǣman (“to grieve, trouble, afflict”). If so, then related to swim (“to be dizzy, swoon”). See also sweam.

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: squaimous, escoimus, swemen, *swǣman

Inflected Forms

more squeamish (comparative) most squeamish (superlative) sweamish (alternative, dialectal) swaimish (alternative, dialectal) squeimish (alternative, obsolete) squemish (alternative, obsolete) squeamous (alternative, obsolete)

Derived Forms

oversqueamish squeamishly squeamishness unsqueamish

Synonyms

dainty nice overnice prissy

Rhymes With

beamish