Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

tenesmus

/tɪˈnɛz.məs/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.10 in modern English

Syllables
tenes-mus
IPA
/tɪˈnɛz.məs/
10
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A continual or recurrent but ineffectual inclination to evacuate the bowels, caused by disorder of the rectum or other illness.

Countable; Uncountable

Example Sentences

Etymology

Borrowing from Medieval Latin tēnesmus, from Ancient Greek τεινεσμός (teinesmós, “vain endeavor to evacuate”), from τείνω (teínō, “to stretch, to pull tight”) + -εσμός (-esmós, nominal suffix).

Origin

Word Breakdown

  • Root: tēnesmus, τεινεσμός

Usage

Inflected Forms

tenesmuses (plural)

Derived Forms

tenesmic

Questions

How do you pronounce tenesmus?
The recorded pronunciation is /tɪˈnɛz.məs/.
What does tenesmus mean?
A continual or recurrent but ineffectual inclination to evacuate the bowels, caused by disorder of the rectum or other illness.
Where does tenesmus come from?
It is traced to Ancient Greek.

How to pronounce tenesmus

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