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PlainSpell

redd

/ɹɛd/obsolete

redd is a verb meaning “To free from entanglement” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled R-E-D-D and has one syllable, and it appears about once in every 2 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data).

What does redd mean?

verb

  1. 1

    obsoleteTo free from entanglement.

  2. 2

    obsoleteTo free from embarrassment.

  3. 3

    ScotlandobsoleteTo fix boundaries.

  4. 4

    ScotlandobsoleteTo comb hair.

  5. 5

    ScotlandobsoleteTo separate combatants.

  6. 6

    ScotlandobsoleteTo settle, usually a quarrel.

  7. 7

    ScotlandobsoleteTo tidy up, clear away.

  8. 8

    obsoleteTo clean, tidy up, to put in order.

    I've got to redd the place before your mother gets back.

noun

  1. 1

    obsoleteA spawning nest made by a fish.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you pronounce redd?

  • /ɹɛd/

Redd has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Persent101-redd.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of redd

  • redds present, singular, he/she/it
  • redding participle, present
  • redded participle, past
  • red

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How common is redd?

Redd appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 39,832nd most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

Words people confuse with redd

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

read vs redd0 B

Sounds like: red (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Also written: red.

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Where does redd come from?

Fusion of Middle English reden (“to clean up, to clear”) and redden (“to save, rescue, deliver, rid, free, clear”). The former is from Old English ġerǣdan (“to put in order, arrange, prepare”), from Proto-West Germanic *garaidijan, from Proto-Germanic *garaidijaną (“to arrange”); the latter, from Old English hreddan (“to save, deliver, recover, rescue”), from Proto-West Germanic *hraddjan, from Proto-Germanic *hradjaną. More at rid and ready.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).