amerce
/əˈmɝs/
"amerce" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“amerce” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To impose a fine on; to fine.
Corpus desk
Index EN-amerce · amerce · English
amerce · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "A" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | amerce |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /əˈmɝs/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “amerce” in English
Rare enough to double-check
amerce is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed /əˈmɝs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for amerce, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Anglo-Norman amercier, from Old French a (“at”) + merci (“mercy”), thus “at the mercy of”. The correct English form is amerce, spelled A-M-E-R-C-E.
Definition
- 1To impose a fine on; to fine.
- 2To punish; to make an exaction.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how amerce appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
But I'll amerce you with so strong a fine That you shall all repent the loss of mine:
The person, in whose house the conventicle met, was amerced a like sum.
Etymology
From Anglo-Norman amercier, from Old French a (“at”) + merci (“mercy”), thus “at the mercy of”.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.