block
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
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5 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "block", 5-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 "block" 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 "block" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
block is aEnglishnoun. It means: A substantial, often approximately cuboid, piece of any substance. Pronounced /blɒk/. It ranks #1,386 in English word frequency. Often confused with bok and book.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | block |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /blɒk/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #1,386 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for block is 5 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /blɒk/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,386 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 39 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 8 documented wrong-spelling variants for block, with forms such as "bblock", "blcok", and "bllock". 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, "bok", "book", "blog", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English blok (“log, stump, solid piece”), from Old French bloc (“log, block”), from Middle Dutch blok (“treetrunk”), from Old Dutch *blok (“log”), from Proto-West Germanic *blokk, from Proto-Germanic *blukką (“beam, log”), from Proto-Indo-Europe… 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 block, spelled B-L-O-C-K, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A substantial, often approximately cuboid, piece of any substance.
- 2A substantial, often approximately cuboid, piece of any substance.
- 3A substantial, often approximately cuboid, piece of any substance.
- 4A substantial, often approximately cuboid, piece of any substance.
- 5A substantial, often approximately cuboid, piece of any substance.
- 6A substantial, often approximately cuboid, piece of any substance.
- 7A substantial, often approximately cuboid, piece of any substance.
- 8A substantial, often approximately cuboid, piece of any substance.
- 9A substantial, often approximately cuboid, piece of any substance.
- 10A substantial, often approximately cuboid, piece of any substance.
- 11A physical area or extent of something, often rectangular or approximately rectangular.
- 12A physical area or extent of something, often rectangular or approximately rectangular.
- 13A physical area or extent of something, often rectangular or approximately rectangular.
- 14A logical extent or region; a grouping or apportionment of like things treated together as a unit.
- 15A logical extent or region; a grouping or apportionment of like things treated together as a unit.
- 16A logical extent or region; a grouping or apportionment of like things treated together as a unit.
- 17A logical extent or region; a grouping or apportionment of like things treated together as a unit.
- 18A logical extent or region; a grouping or apportionment of like things treated together as a unit.
- 19A logical extent or region; a grouping or apportionment of like things treated together as a unit.
- 20A logical extent or region; a grouping or apportionment of like things treated together as a unit.
- 21A logical extent or region; a grouping or apportionment of like things treated together as a unit.
- 22A contiguous group of urban lots of property, typically several acres in extent, not crossed by public streets.
- 23A contiguous group of urban lots of property, typically several acres in extent, not crossed by public streets.
- 24A cuboid or approximately cuboid building.
- 25A cuboid or approximately cuboid building.
- 26Something that prevents something from passing.
- 27Something that prevents something from passing.
- 28Something that prevents something from passing.
- 29Something that prevents something from passing.
- 30Something that prevents something from passing.
- 31Something that prevents something from passing.
- 32Something that prevents something from passing.
- 33Something that prevents something from passing.
- 34Something that prevents something from passing.
- 35Something that prevents something from passing.
- 36Something that prevents something from passing.
- 37The human head.
- 38Solitary confinement.
- 39A blockhead; a stupid person; a dolt.
Etymology
From Middle English blok (“log, stump, solid piece”), from Old French bloc (“log, block”), from Middle Dutch blok (“treetrunk”), from Old Dutch *blok (“log”), from Proto-West Germanic *blokk, from Proto-Germanic *blukką (“beam, log”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵ- (“thick plank, beam, pile, prop”). Cognate with Old Frisian blok, Old Saxon blok, Old High German bloh, bloc (“block”), Old English bolca (“gangway of a ship, plank”), Old Norse bǫlkr (“divider, partition”). More at balk. See also bloc, bulk.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: bblock,blcok,bllock,blocck,blockk,blokc,bolck,lbock
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for block
Misspelling Variants of "block"
Frequency rank: #1,386 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter B in our English index: