Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

populous

/ˈpɑpjələs/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.41 in modern English

Syllables: pop-u-lous
IPA: /ˈpɑpjələs/

12

Scrabble Score

8

Letters

3

Syllables

5

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Having a large population.

adj

Spoken by a large number of people.

adj

Densely populated.

adj

Crowded with people.

Example Sentences

"China is the most populous country in the world."
"Chinese is the most populous language."
"The Sino-Tibetan family includes Mandarin, the most populous language in the world, spoken by more than one billion Chinese."
"The Nile delta is a populous region."
"Airport departure halls are often populous places during the rush hours."

Etymology

First used in English in the mid 15th century; from Latin populosus (“full of people, populous”).

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈpɑpjələs/
British English: /ˈpɒpjʊləs/

Inflected Forms

more populous (comparative) most populous (superlative)

Derived Forms

equipopulous overpopulous populosity populously populousness unpopulous

Synonyms

thickly settled

Homonyms

populace (most accents) populace

Rhymes With

populace

Questions

How do you pronounce populous?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈpɑpjələs/.
What does populous mean?: Having a large population.
Where does populous come from?: First used in English in the mid 15th century; from Latin populosus (“full of people, populous”).

How to pronounce populous

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