Wordwyrt

grievous

/ˈɡɹivəs/GREE-vuhs
UK form converted from the US by rule · unchecked
/ˈɡɹivəs/GREE-vuhs

Meaningcausing grief

Common meaning: very serious or severe

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Journey through time

  1. Latingravare‘to burden’source
  2. Old Frenchgreversource
  3. Middle Englishgreuensource
  4. Englishgrieve‘to mourn’
  5. Englishformed in English from grievegrievous‘very serious or severe’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Formed in English from grieve + -ous.

Dictionary: Skeat (1898), GRIEVE, p.244 · scan

Source words

  • gravare Latin · source word “to burden”

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