crack
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
5 characters
Language
English
word origin
Source
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "crack", 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 "crack" 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 "crack" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
crack is aEnglishverb. It means: To form cracks. Pronounced /kɹæk/. It ranks #3,551 in English word frequency. Often confused with crap and cram.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | crack |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /kɹæk/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #3,551 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for crack is 5 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kɹæk/. Corpus data places it at rank #3,551 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 25 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 crack, with forms such as "carck", "ccrack", and "cracck". 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, "crap", "cram", "cray", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English crakken, craken, from Old English cracian (“to resound, crack”), from Proto-West Germanic *krakōn, from Proto-Germanic *krakōną (“to crack, crackle, shriek”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gerh₂- (“to resound, cry hoarsely”). Cogn… 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 crack, spelled C-R-A-C-K, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1To form cracks.
- 2To break apart under force, stress, or pressure.
- 3To become debilitated by psychological pressure.
- 4To break down or yield, especially under interrogation or torture.
- 5To make a cracking sound.
- 6To change rapidly in register.
- 7To alternate between high and low register in the process of eventually lowering.
- 8To make a sharply humorous comment.
- 9To realize that one is transgender.
- 10To make a crack or cracks in.
- 11To break open or crush to small pieces by impact or stress.
- 12To strike forcefully.
- 13To open slightly.
- 14To cause to yield under interrogation or other pressure.
- 15To solve a difficult problem.
- 16To overcome a security system or component.
- 17To cause to make a sharp sound.
- 18To tell (a joke).
- 19To break down (a complex molecule), especially with the application of heat: to pyrolyse.
- 20To circumvent software restrictions such as regional coding or time limits.
- 21To open a canned beverage, or any packaged drink or food.
- 22To brag; to boast.
- 23To be ruined or impaired; to fail.
- 24To barely reach or attain (a measurement or extent).
- 25To have sex with, especially penetrative sex.
Etymology
From Middle English crakken, craken, from Old English cracian (“to resound, crack”), from Proto-West Germanic *krakōn, from Proto-Germanic *krakōną (“to crack, crackle, shriek”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gerh₂- (“to resound, cry hoarsely”). Cognate with Scots crak (“to crack”), West Frisian kreakje (“to crack”), Dutch kraken (“to crunch, creak, squeak”), Low German kraken (“to crack”), German krachen (“to crash, crack, creak”), Lithuanian gi̇̀rgžděti (“to creak, squeak”), Old Armenian կարկաչ (karkačʻ), Sanskrit गर्जति (gárjati, “to roar, hum”). Compare typologically English crevice (<< Latin crepō), Bulgarian пукнатина (puknatina) (akin to пу́кам (púkam)), Russian тре́щина (tréščina) (akin to треск (tresk)), щель (ščelʹ) (akin to щёлкать (ščólkatʹ)).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: carck,ccrack,cracck,crackk,crakc,crcak,crrack,rcack
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for crack
Misspelling Variants of "crack"
Frequency rank: #3,551 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter C in our English index: