Added 9 October 2026
heinous
/ˈheɪnəs/ adjective
adjective Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about heinous at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
Origin
From Middle English heynous, from Anglo-Norman hainous, heinous (compare French haineux) from Old French haïr, hadir (“to hate”) (compare Old French en-hadir (“to become filled with hate”)), from Frankish *hattjan (“to hate”) (compare Middle English hetien). More at hate. The fluctuation between pronunciations with /eɪ/ and /iː/ is old; the former reflects adoption of an unmonophthongised pronunciation of Old French -ai-, while the latter reflects a monophthongised form.
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)