corpse
/koɹps/noun, verb
corpse is spelled C-O-R-P-S-E: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears 5.8 times per million words in written English, the 10,196th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “corps vs corpse” about 50 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, corpse means “A dead body, especially that of a human as opposed to an animal” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of corpse is corpses.
How many letters and syllables are in corpse?
| Letters | 6: C-O-R-P-S-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 5.8 times per million words; the 10,196th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; 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).
How common is corpse?
Corpse appears 5.8 times per million words in written English, the 10,196th 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 corpse?
- UK /kɔːps/
- US /koɹps/
- US [kʰo̞ɹps]
Corpse has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-corpse.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with corpse
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: corps.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of corpse
- corpses plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- corpsing participle, present
- corpsed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does corpse mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A dead body, especially that of a human as opposed to an animal.
- 2
The dead body of any animal with flesh; the dead body of a vertebrate; a carcass.
- 3
archaicderogatoryA human body in general, whether living or dead.
verb
- 1
slangTo laugh uncontrollably during a performance.
- 2
slangTo cause another actor to do this.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Corpse in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense dead body:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | cadavre, corps, corps sans vie |
| German | Leiche, Leichnam, Laicha, Leisch |
| Portuguese | cadáver, corpo |
| Spanish | cuerpo, cadáver, fiambre, difunto, muerto |
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 corpse come from?
From Middle English, from earlier corse, from Old French cors, from Latin corpus (“body”). Displaced native English likam and lich. The ⟨p⟩ was inserted due to the original Latin spelling. Doublet of corps and corpus, and distantly of riff (via Proto-Indo-European). The verb sense derives from the notion of being unable to control laughter while acting as dead body.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).