check
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
5 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "check", 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 "check" 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 "check" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
check is aEnglishnoun. It means: An inspection or examination. Pronounced /t͡ʃɛk/. It ranks #487 in English word frequency. Often confused with chef and cock.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | check |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /t͡ʃɛk/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #487 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for check is 5 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /t͡ʃɛk/. Corpus data places it at rank #487 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 12 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 check, with forms such as "ccheck", "cehck", and "chcek". 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, "chef", "cock", "Chen", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English chek, chekke, borrowed from Old French eschek, eschec, eschac, from Medieval Latin scaccus, borrowed from Arabic شَاه (šāh, “king or check at chess, shah”), borrowed from Classical Persian شَاه (šāh, “king”), from Middle Persian 𐭬𐭫𐭪𐭠… 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 check, spelled C-H-E-C-K, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1An inspection or examination.
- 2A control; a limit or stop.
- 3A situation in which the king is directly threatened by an opposing piece.
- 4A mark (especially a checkmark: ✓) used as an indicator.
- 5An order to a bank to pay money to a named person or entity.
- 6A bill, particularly in a restaurant.
- 7A maneuver performed by a player to take another player out of the play.
- 8A token used instead of cash in various contexts, including sign-out of company property or collection of rations (dated), in gaming machines, or in gambling generally.
- 9A lengthwise separation through the growth rings in wood.
- 10A mark, certificate, or token by which errors may be prevented, or a thing or person may be identified.
- 11The forsaking by a hawk of its proper game to follow other birds.
- 12A small chink or crack.
Etymology
From Middle English chek, chekke, borrowed from Old French eschek, eschec, eschac, from Medieval Latin scaccus, borrowed from Arabic شَاه (šāh, “king or check at chess, shah”), borrowed from Classical Persian شَاه (šāh, “king”), from Middle Persian 𐭬𐭫𐭪𐭠 (mlkʾ /šāh/), from Old Persian 𐏋 (XŠ /xšāyaθiya/, “king”), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *kšáyati (“he rules, he has power over”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tek- (“to gain power over, gain control over”). All of the English senses developed from the chess sense. Compare Saterland Frisian Schak, Schach, Dutch schaak, German Schach, Danish skak, Swedish schack, Icelandic skák, French échec, Italian scacco. See chess and shah (“king of Persia or Iran”), from the same source, as well as thig, which derives from the Germanic cognate.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccheck,cehck,chcek,checck,checkk,chekc,chheck,hceck
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for check
Misspelling Variants of "check"
Frequency rank: #487 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter C in our English index: