Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

heinous

/ˈheɪnəs/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.25 in modern English

Syllables: heinous
IPA: /ˈheɪnəs/

10

Scrabble Score

7

Letters

2

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Totally reprehensible.

adj

Bad, evil or villainous.

Example Sentences

"I hope they catch the person responsible for that heinous crime."
"The perpetrators of this heinous act must be brought to justice."
"Perhaps burdened by the weight of history, talk of the heinous 2-2 draw in 2002, or the magnitude of the fixture, Scotland seemed spooked in the early throes."

Etymology

From Middle English heynous, from Anglo-Norman hainous, heinous (compare French haineux) from Old French haïr, hadir (“to hate”) (compare Old French en-hadir (“to become filled with hate”)), from Frankish *hattjan (“to hate”) (compare Middle English hetien). More at hate. The fluctuation between pronunciations with /eɪ/ and /iː/ is old; the former reflects adoption of an unmonophthongised pronunciation of Old French -ai-, while the latter reflects a monophthongised form.

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: *keh₂d-, heynous, hainous, haïr, *hattjan

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈheɪnəs/
British English: /ˈheɪnəs/

Inflected Forms

more heinous (comparative) most heinous (superlative) hainous (alternative, obsolete)

Derived Forms

heinously heinousness unheinous

Frequently Paired Words

hate

Synonyms

abominable horrible odious flagitious

Antonyms

unheinous

Rhymes With

anus janus gayness pandanus uranus feyness antoninianus veinous

Questions

How do you pronounce heinous?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈheɪnəs/.
What does heinous mean?: Totally reprehensible.
Where does heinous come from?: It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce heinous

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “heinous”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈheɪnəs/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
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