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PlainSpell

anchor

an·chorUK /ˈæŋ.kəː/noun, verb

anchor is spelled A-N-C-H-O-R: 6 letters and 2 syllables (an·chor). It appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 6,884th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data, counting Anchor, the name). As a noun, anchor means “A tool used to moor a vessel to the bottom of a sea or river to resist movement” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of anchor is anchors.

How many letters and syllables are in anchor?

Letters6: A-N-C-H-O-R
Syllables2: an·chor
In writing10 times per million words; the 6,884th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is anchor?

Anchor appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 6,884th most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes Anchor, the name.

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

How do you pronounce anchor?

  • UK /ˈæŋ.kəː/
  • UK [ˈæŋ.kəː]
  • /ˈæŋ.kɚ/

Anchor has 2 syllables, split an·chor in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-anchor.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with anchor

Also written: anker.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with anchor?

2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as anchor from its last stressed vowel (/æŋkə/, British pronunciation):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: rancho, archon.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of anchor

  • anchors plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • anchoring participle, present
  • anchored participle, past

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

What does anchor mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A tool used to moor a vessel to the bottom of a sea or river to resist movement.

  2. 2

    An iron device so shaped as to grip the bottom and hold a vessel at her berth by the chain or rope attached.

  3. 3

    The combined anchoring gear (anchor, rode, bill/peak and fittings such as bitts, cat, and windlass.)

  4. 4

    Representation of the nautical tool, used as a heraldic charge.

  5. 5

    Any instrument serving a purpose like that of a ship's anchor, such as an arrangement of timber to hold a dam fast; a device to hold the end of a bridge cable etc.; or a device used in metalworking to hold the core of a mould in place.

  6. 6

    A marked point in a document that can be the target of a hyperlink.

  7. 7

    A line of code in a program which acts as a reference point for further code to be added immediately before or after, usually via copy and paste.

  8. 8

    An anchorman or anchorwoman.

  9. 9

    obsoleteAn anchorite or anchoress.

  10. 10

    Alternative form of anker.

verb

  1. 1

    To connect an object, especially a ship or a boat, to a fixed point.

  2. 2

    To cast anchor; to come to anchor.

    Our ship (or the captain) anchored in the stream.

  3. 3

    To stop; to fix or rest.

  4. 4

    To provide emotional stability for a person in distress.

  5. 5

    To perform as an anchorman or anchorwoman.

  6. 6

    To be stuck; to be unable to move away from a position.

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

Anchor in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchancre (tool to moor a vessel into sea bottom), speaker, speakerine, présentateur, présentatrice, annonceur ((TV) anchorman or anchorwoman)
GermanAnker (tool to moor a vessel into sea bottom), Leitgesicht, TV-Moderator, Moderator ((TV) anchorman or anchorwoman), Verankerung, Magnet (any instrument serving similar purpose to anchor)
Portugueseâncora (tool to moor a vessel into sea bottom), locutor ((TV) anchorman or anchorwoman), ancorar (to hold an object to a fixed point), apresentar (to perform as a TV anchorman)
Spanishancla, áncora, anclote, rizón, rezón, jierro (tool to moor a vessel into sea bottom)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does anchor come from?

From Middle English anker, from Old English ancor, ancra, from Latin ancora, from (or cognate with) Ancient Greek ἄγκυρα (ánkura). The modern form is a sixteenth-century modification after the Medieval Latin spelling anchora. Doublet of ancora, anker, angora, and Ankara.

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

What to look up after anchor