berserker
/ˈbɜːsɜːkə/
"berserker" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“berserker” is uncommon English (frequency #58,547 among 31,241 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #58,547
- frequency rank, English
- 31,241
- “B” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A Norse warrior who purportedly fought in a trance-like frenzy; a berserk.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | berserker |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbɜːsɜːkə/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #58,547 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “berserker” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
berserker is uncommon English at frequency #58,547 among 31,241 “B” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈbɜːsɜːkə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for berserker in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Old Norse berserkr (“Norse warrior who fights with frenzy”), probably from bjǫrn (“bear”) + serkr (“coat; shirt”), referring to the bearskins worn by the warriors. Bjǫrn is possibly ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH- (“brown”)… The correct English form is berserker, spelled B-E-R-S-E-R-K-E-R.
Definition
- 1A Norse warrior who purportedly fought in a trance-like frenzy; a berserk.
- 2One who fights as if frenzied, like a berserker.
- 3A type of von Neumann probe whose mission is to exterminate alien lifeforms.
Etymology
Borrowed from Old Norse berserkr (“Norse warrior who fights with frenzy”), probably from bjǫrn (“bear”) + serkr (“coat; shirt”), referring to the bearskins worn by the warriors. Bjǫrn is possibly ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH- (“brown”); and serkr from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to bind, tie together; thread”). Alternatively, it has been suggested that the first element of the word is from berr (“bare, naked”), suggesting warriors who went into battle without armour, but this is now thought unlikely. Doublet of berserk. The word was introduced in English by the Scottish author and historian Walter Scott (1771–1832) in Illustrations of Northern Antiquities (1814) (spelled berserkir), and in his novel The Pirate (1822) (spelled berserkar). The sense “type of von Neumann probe whose mission is to exterminate alien lifeforms” was coined by the American author Fred Saberhagen (1930–2007) in 1963 in his Berserker series of novels and short stories. Cognates * Icelandic berserkur * Swedish bärsärk
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
How do you spell "berserker"?
What does "berserker" mean?
How do you pronounce "berserker"?
What is the origin of the word "berserker"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “berserker”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-E-R-S-E-R-K-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈbɜːsɜːkə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.