across
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
6 characters
Language
English
word origin
Source
Wiktionary
open dictionary
Access
Free
no sign-up needed
Detailed reference entry for the English word "across", 6-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "across" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "across" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
across is aEnglishprep. It means: To, toward, or from the far side of (something that lies between two points of interest). Pronounced /əˈkɹɒs/. It ranks #556 in English word frequency. Often confused with arose and arrows.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | across |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Prep |
| IPA | /əˈkɹɒs/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #556 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 6 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for across is 6 letters long, classified as aprep, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əˈkɹɒs/. Corpus data places it at rank #556 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 9 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 7 documented wrong-spelling variants for across, with forms such as "accross", "acorss", and "acros". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 6 confusable-pair relationships, "arose", "arrows", "aprons", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree ▲ Proto-Indo-European *h₁en- Proto-Indo-European *h₁en- Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Proto-Italic *en Old Latin en Latin in Old French en Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-der.? Latin crux Old French crois Anglo-Norman an croizbor. Middle English acro… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is across, spelled A-C-R-O-S-S, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1To, toward, or from the far side of (something that lies between two points of interest).
- 2On the opposite side of (something that lies between two points of interest).
- 3across from: on the opposite side, relative to something that lies between, from (a point of interest).
- 4From one side to the other within (a space being traversed).
- 5At or near the far end of (a space).
- 6Spanning.
- 7Throughout.
- 8So as to intersect or pass through or over at an angle.
- 9In possession of full, up-to-date information about; abreast of.
Etymology
Etymology tree ▲ Proto-Indo-European *h₁en- Proto-Indo-European *h₁en- Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Proto-Italic *en Old Latin en Latin in Old French en Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-der.? Latin crux Old French crois Anglo-Norman an croizbor. Middle English acros English across From Middle English acros, from early Middle English a-croiz, a-creoyz, from Anglo-Norman an (“in, on”) + croiz (“in the form of a cross”). More at cross. By surface analysis, a- + cross.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: accross,acorss,acros,acrross,acrsos,arcoss,caross
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for across
Misspelling Variants of "across"
Frequency rank: #556 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "across"?
What does "across" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "across"?
How do you pronounce "across"?
What is the origin of the word "across"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter A in our English index: