How to spell notorious

hear itno·to·ri·ous/noʊ'toʊriəs/adjectiveSchwa and roots

What it means: Well-known for something bad.

In a sentence: Captain Hook was a notorious pirate who sailed the seas.

The part people get wrong

Watch for an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear. Often misspelled as notourious or notorius.

Same family: notoriously, notoriety, famous, infamous, renowned. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: “Notorious” comes from the Medieval Latin word “notorius,” based on Latin “notus,” meaning “known.” Interestingly, in older English it could mean simply “well-known,” but over time it picked up the strong negative sense it usually has today.

Patterns it uses: The unstressed vowel (schwa)

Try spelling it

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Words like this

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