cord
/ˈkɔːd/noun, verb
cord is spelled C-O-R-D: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 9.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,338th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “chord vs cord” about 3,600 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, cord means “A long, thin, flexible length of twisted yarns (strands) of fibre (a rope, for example)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of cord is cords.
How many letters and syllables are in cord?
| Letters | 4: C-O-R-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | 9.5 times per million words; the 7,338th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is cord?
Cord appears 9.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,338th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce cord?
- UK /ˈkɔːd/
- UK [ˈkʰɔːd] ~ [ˈkʰo̞ːd]
- British /ˈkoːd/
Cord has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-cord.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Qwertygiy-cord.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with cord
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: chord (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Also written: chord.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with cord?
10 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as cord from its last stressed vowel (/ɔd/, British pronunciation):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of cord
- cords plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- cording participle, present
- corded participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does cord mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A long, thin, flexible length of twisted yarns (strands) of fibre (a rope, for example).
The burglar tied up the victim with a cord.
- 2
Any quantity of such material when viewed as a mass or commodity.
He looped some cord around his fingers.
- 3
A small flexible electrical conductor composed of wires insulated separately or in bundles and assembled together usually with an outer cover; the electrical cord of a lamp, sweeper ((US) vacuum cleaner), or other appliance.
- 4
A unit of measurement for firewood, equal to 128 cubic feet (4 × 4 × 8 feet), composed of logs and/or split logs four feet long and none over eight inches diameter. It is usually seen as a stack four feet high by eight feet long.
- 5
A quantity of firewood or cut logs.
- 6
Any influence by which persons are caught, held, or drawn, as if by a cord.
- 7
Any structure having the appearance of a cord, especially a tendon or nerve.
spermatic cord; spinal cord; umbilical cord; vocal cords
- 8
datedDated form of chord.
verb
- 1
To furnish with cords.
- 2
To tie or fasten with cords.
- 3
To flatten a book during binding.
- 4
To arrange (wood, etc.) in a pile for measurement by the cord.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Cord in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | corde , cordon |
| German | Schnur, Kordel, Strick , Kabel, Litze, Strippe |
| Portuguese | corda, barbante , cabo |
| Spanish | cuerda, cordón, cordel, mecate, libán, laja |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does cord come from?
From Middle English corde, from Old French corde, from Latin chorda, from Ancient Greek χορδή (khordḗ, “string of gut, the string of a lyre”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰerH- (“bowels, intestines”). Displaced native Old English sīma (“cord, rope”), sāl (“rope, cord, rein”), and sāda (“cord, halter, snare”). Doublet of chord and cuerda. More at yarn and hernia.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).