How to spell tenacious
tenacious
Tenacious is spelled T-E-N-A-C-I-O-U-S.
Not tenatious.
Why is tenacious easy to misspell?
The word tenacious ends -cious, and the misspelling tenatious writes -tious. The two endings sound alike, and tenacity, which keeps the C, settles which one this is.
That spelling matches the sound exactly, which is why it looked right. English keeps letters long after the sound has moved on, so the conventional spelling is often the one that looks least like it sounds.
Latin spelling: ous for the us sound
What does tenacious mean?
Tending to keep a firm hold.
Which other words set the same trap?
Where does English spelling come from?
The conventions each language layer left in English spelling, with their sources, are on where English spelling comes from.
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Play today's Daily FiveSpellingIQ is a skill rating for spelling ability, not a clinical or psychometric IQ measure. American English is canonical; common variants are accepted.