brush up
"brush-up" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“brush up” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To paint, or make clean or bright with a brush.
Corpus desk
Index EN-brush-up · brush up · English
brush up · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "B" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | brush up |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “brush up” in English
Rare enough to double-check
brush up is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
brush up has no tracked misspelling variants, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct English form is brush up, spelled B-R-U-S-H- -U-P.
Definition
- 1To paint, or make clean or bright with a brush.
- 2To review; to improve an existing but rusty or underdeveloped skill.
- 3To beat up, annoy or insult (someone).
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how brush up appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
April 10, 1706, Alexander Pope, letter to William Wycherley You have commissioned me to paint your shop, and I have done my best to brush you up like your neighbours.
I'll need to brush up (on) my Greek before my trip to Athens.
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.