auk
/ɔːk/
"auk" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“auk” is uncommon English (frequency #68,837 among 3,931 “A” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #68,837
- frequency rank, English
- 3,931
- “A” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Any of several species of Arctic sea birds of the family Alcidae.
Corpus desk
Index EN-auk · auk · English
auk · rank #68,837 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #68,837
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,931
- PHOTO-FINISH Aymara
Nearest frequency peer: Aymara (+2 rank slots)
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.
Long-tail ranks near “auk”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Assamese
Assamese
31,171 corpus weight
- asymptotica…
asymptotically
31,168 corpus weight
- auk
auk
31,164 corpus weight
- Aymara
Aymara
31,162 corpus weight
- Bandera
Bandera
31,155 corpus weight
- Bangui
Bangui
31,154 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “auk” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | auk |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɔːk/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #68,837 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “auk” in English
Rare enough to double-check
auk is uncommon English at frequency #68,837 among 3,931 “A” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ɔːk/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Any of several species of Arctic sea birds of the family Alcidae.".
auk doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Icelandic álka, from Old Norse alka (“auk”), from Proto-Germanic *alkǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁el- (“a kind of bird”). Cognate with Swedish alka (“auk”), Norwegian and Danish alke (“auk”), Swedish dialectal alla (“long-tailed duck”) (Clangula hyem… The correct English form is auk, spelled A-U-K.
Definition
- 1Any of several species of Arctic sea birds of the family Alcidae.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how auk appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Further afield, these auks are also in dire straits: Norway has seen vertiginous crashes, with hundreds of thousands of adult puffins in the once-teeming colony of Røst struggling to fledge any chicks in recent years.
Etymology
From Icelandic álka, from Old Norse alka (“auk”), from Proto-Germanic *alkǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁el- (“a kind of bird”). Cognate with Swedish alka (“auk”), Norwegian and Danish alke (“auk”), Swedish dialectal alla (“long-tailed duck”) (Clangula hyemalis, syn. Fuligula glacialis), Latin olor (“swan”), Ancient Greek ἐλέα (eléa, “marsh-bird”), Welsh alarch (“swan”).
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "auk", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).