Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

hesitancy

/hˈɛzɪtənsi/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.35 in modern English

Syllables: hes-i-tan-cy
IPA: /hˈɛzɪtənsi/

17

Scrabble Score

9

Letters

4

Syllables

9

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A pausing or halting before beginning a task, often as a result of some fear or uncertainty about the outcome.

Countable; Uncountable

Etymology

Etymology tree Latin haereō Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Italic *-tos Latin -tus Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin -tō ▲ Latin -tō Latin -itō Latin -titō Latin haesitō Latin haesitāns Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -ia Latin haesitantiabor. English hesitancy From Latin haesitantia. By surface analysis, hesitant + -cy.

Origin

Source language: Latin

Word Breakdown

Root: haesitantia

Usage

Inflected Forms

hesitancies (plural) hæsitancy (alternative) hesitance (alternative)

Phrases

vaccine hesitancy

Synonyms

hesitation reluctance disinclination indisposition hesitance

Questions

How do you pronounce hesitancy?: The recorded pronunciation is /hˈɛzɪtənsi/.
What does hesitancy mean?: A pausing or halting before beginning a task, often as a result of some fear or uncertainty about the outcome.
Where does hesitancy come from?: It is traced to Latin.

How to pronounce hesitancy

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Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/hˈɛzɪtənsi/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
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