Brussels sprout
/ˌbɹʌsəl(z)ˈspɹaʊt/
"brussels-sprout" is a 14-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Brussels sprout” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 15
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The green vegetable Brassica oleracea var. gemmifera, a cabbage variety native to Belgium.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Brussels sprout |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌbɹʌsəl(z)ˈspɹaʊt/ |
| Letters | 15 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Brussels sprout” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
Brussels sprout is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌbɹʌsəl(z)ˈspɹaʊt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The green vegetable Brassica oleracea var. gemmifera, a cabbage variety native to Belgium.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for Brussels sprout in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Recorded since 1748. Named after Brussels, where they were cultivated in the current form perhaps as early as the 13th c. Sprout is from Old English sprūtan (in asprutan (“to sprout”); cognate with Old Saxon sprutan, Old Frisian spruta, Middle Dutch spruten… The correct English form is Brussels sprout, spelled B-R-U-S-S-E-L-S- -S-P-R-O-U-T.
Definition
- 1The green vegetable Brassica oleracea var. gemmifera, a cabbage variety native to Belgium.
Etymology
Recorded since 1748. Named after Brussels, where they were cultivated in the current form perhaps as early as the 13th c. Sprout is from Old English sprūtan (in asprutan (“to sprout”); cognate with Old Saxon sprutan, Old Frisian spruta, Middle Dutch spruten, modern Dutch spruit (“sprout; Brussels sprout”), Old High German spriozan, German sprießen (“to sprout”), from Proto-Germanic *spreutaną, from Proto-Indo-European *sper- (“to strew”).
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “Brussels sprout”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-R-U-S-S-E-L-S- -S-P-R-O-U-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌbɹʌsəl(z)ˈspɹaʊt/ (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
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.