barrel
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 "barrel", 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 "barrel" 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 "barrel" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
barrel is aEnglishnoun. It means: A round (cylindrical) vessel, such as a cask, of greater length than breadth, and bulging in the middle, made of staves bound with hoops, and having flat ends (heads). The word is sometimes applied... Pronounced /ˈbæɹ(ə)l/. It ranks #5,391 in English word frequency. Often confused with Barry and Basel.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | barrel |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbæɹ(ə)l/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #5,391 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for barrel is 6 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈbæɹ(ə)l/. Corpus data places it at rank #5,391 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 16 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 barrel, with forms such as "abrrel", "barel", and "barerl". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Barry", "Basel", "barren", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English barel, from Anglo-Norman baril, Old French baril, bareil (“barrel”), of uncertain origin. An attempt to link baril to Old French barre (“bar, bolt”) (compare Medieval Latin barra (“bar, rod”)) via assumed Vulgar Latin *barrīculum meets t… 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 barrel, spelled B-A-R-R-E-L, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A round (cylindrical) vessel, such as a cask, of greater length than breadth, and bulging in the middle, made of staves bound with hoops, and having flat ends (heads). The word is sometimes applied to a similar cylindrical container made of metal, usually called a drum.
- 2A round (cylindrical) vessel, such as a cask, of greater length than breadth, and bulging in the middle, made of staves bound with hoops, and having flat ends (heads). The word is sometimes applied to a similar cylindrical container made of metal, usually called a drum.
- 3The quantity which constitutes a full barrel: the volume or weight this represents varies by local law and custom.
- 4A solid drum, or a hollow cylinder or case
- 5A metallic tube, as of a gun, from which a projectile is discharged.
- 6A venturi (in carburetion).
- 7A ceiling-mounted tube from which lights are suspended.
- 8Any tube.
- 9The hollow basal part of a feather.
- 10The part of a clarinet which connects the mouthpiece and upper joint, and resembles a barrel.
- 11A wave that breaks with a hollow compartment.
- 12A waste receptacle.
- 13The ribs and belly of a horse or pony.
- 14A jar.
- 15Any of the dark-staining regions in the somatosensory cortex of rodents, etc., where somatosensory inputs from the contralateral side of the body come in from the thalamus.
- 16A statistic derived from launch angle and exit velocity of a ball hit in play.
Etymology
From Middle English barel, from Anglo-Norman baril, Old French baril, bareil (“barrel”), of uncertain origin. An attempt to link baril to Old French barre (“bar, bolt”) (compare Medieval Latin barra (“bar, rod”)) via assumed Vulgar Latin *barrīculum meets the phonological requirement, but fails to connect the word semantically. The alternative connection to Frankish *baril, *beril or Gothic *𐌱𐌴𐍂𐌹𐌻𐍃 (*bērils, “container for transport”), from Proto-Germanic *barilaz, *bērilaz (“barrel, jug, container”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to carry, transport”), is more plausible as it connects not only the form of the word but also the sense; equivalent to bear + -le. Compare also Old High German biril (“jug, large pot”), Luxembourgish Bärel, Bierel (“jug, pot”), Old Norse berill (“barrel for liquids”), Old English byrla (“barrel of a horse, trunk, body”). More at bear.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: abrrel,barel,barerl,barrell,barrle,bbarrel,brarel
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for barrel
Misspelling Variants of "barrel"
Frequency rank: #5,391 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "barrel"?
What does "barrel" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "barrel"?
How do you pronounce "barrel"?
What is the origin of the word "barrel"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter B in our English index: