Wondrous
adjectiveInspiring awe, delight, or amazement; remarkably fine.
How to spell wondrous
8 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce wondrous
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does wondrous mean?
- adjectiveInspiring awe, delight, or amazement; remarkably fine.
Wondrous in a sentence
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The tour guide described the cathedral as a wondrous feat of engineering.
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From the summit they took in a wondrous view of the entire valley.
Where does wondrous come from?
Language of origin: Germanic
This word grew out of the native English noun 'wonder', which comes from Old English 'wundor', meaning a marvel, a portent, or something astonishing. In Middle English the adjective form first appeared as 'wonders' or 'wondrus', and it took the Latin-derived ending '-ous', meaning 'full of', that English had absorbed through French during the medieval period. By the fifteenth century the spelling had settled toward 'wondrous', with the unstressed middle vowel of 'wonder' squeezed out, which is exactly the trap: writers expecting 'wonderous' add a letter that the modern spelling drops. The base word 'wonder' is closely related to German 'Wunder', showing its solidly Germanic roots even though the suffix arrived from elsewhere. Today the word carries a slightly literary, admiring tone, describing things that inspire awe.
How the word is built
- wonder (from Old English wundor: marvel)
- -ous (full of), with the e of 'wonder' dropped
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