barque

/bɑɹk/

//bɑɹk// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"barque" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“barque” is uncommon English (frequency #79,288 among 4,121 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#79,288
frequency rank, English
4,121
“B” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A sailing vessel of three or more masts, with all masts but the sternmost square-rigged, the sternmost being fore-and-aft-rigged

Corpus desk

Index EN-barque · barque · English

barque · rank #79,288 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #79,288
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,121
  • PHOTO-FINISH ballas

Nearest frequency peer: ballas (-1 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 “barque”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “barque” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for barque
PropertyValue
Headwordbarque
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/bɑɹk/
Letters6
Frequency rank#79,288
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “barque” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).barquefalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “ballas” (#79,287), “baleful” (#79,286), “bailiwick” (#79,285). Among 4,121 “B” headwords, “barque” is #79,288. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

barque is uncommon English at frequency #79,288 among 4,121 “B” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /bɑɹk/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for barque, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English barke (“boat”), borrowed from Middle French barque, itself borrowed from Italian barca or a Medieval Latin equivalent, from Late Latin barca, from Vulgar Latin barica, from Ancient Greek βᾶρις (bâris) 'Egyptian boat', from Coptic ⲃⲁⲁⲣⲉ (… The correct English form is barque, spelled B-A-R-Q-U-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A sailing vessel of three or more masts, with all masts but the sternmost square-rigged, the sternmost being fore-and-aft-rigged
  2. 2
    Any small sailing vessel.
  3. 3
    A sailing vessel or boat of any kind.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how barque appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. On being told, however, that the Norwegian barque Daphne was about to leave An-peng for Tamsui, I had my things taken on board, and we set sail a few hours later.
  2. Barque of phosphor On the palmy beach…

Etymology

From Middle English barke (“boat”), borrowed from Middle French barque, itself borrowed from Italian barca or a Medieval Latin equivalent, from Late Latin barca, from Vulgar Latin barica, from Ancient Greek βᾶρις (bâris) 'Egyptian boat', from Coptic ⲃⲁⲁⲣⲉ (baare, “small boat”), from Demotic Egyptian br, from Egyptian bꜣjr (“transport ship, type of fish”), b-bA-A-y:r*Z1-P1. Doublet of bark, barge and baris. Possibly cognate with Spanish barco.

Synonyms

boat

This word in other languages

bricbarca(Español)barque(Français)

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

How do you spell "barque"?
"barque" is spelled B-A-R-Q-U-E. The IPA pronunciation is /bɑɹk/.
What does "barque" mean?
As a noun, "barque" means: A sailing vessel of three or more masts, with all masts but the sternmost square-rigged, the sternmost being fore-and-aft-rigged
How do you pronounce "barque"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "barque" is /bɑɹk/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "barque"?
From Middle English barke (“boat”), borrowed from Middle French barque, itself borrowed from Italian barca or a Medieval Latin equivalent, from Late Latin barca, from Vulgar Latin barica, from Ancient Greek βᾶρις (bâris) 'Egyptian boat', from Copt... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "barque", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

ballas#79,287Beaune#79,291bailee#79,284Beeson#79,295

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list