croak
/kɹoʊk/noun, verb
croak is spelled C-R-O-A-K: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 59,387th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, croak means “A faint, harsh sound made in the throat” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of croak is croaks.
How many letters and syllables are in croak?
| Letters | 5: C-R-O-A-K |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 4 million words; the 59,387th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is croak?
Croak appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 59,387th 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 croak?
- US /kɹoʊk/
- UK /kɹəʊk/
Croak 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-au-croak.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with croak?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as croak from its last stressed vowel (/oʊk/):
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 croak
- croaks plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- croaking participle, present
- croaked participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does croak mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A faint, harsh sound made in the throat.
- 2
The call of a frog or toad.
- 3
The harsh call of various birds, such as the raven or corncrake, or other creatures.
verb
- 1
To make a croak sound.
- 2
To utter in a low, hoarse voice.
- 3
To make its vocal sound.
- 4
slangTo die.
- 5
slangTo kill.
He'd seen my face, so I had to croak him.
- 6
To complain; especially, to grumble; to forebode evil; to utter complaints or forebodings habitually.
- 7
slangTo abort the current program indicating a user or caller error.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Croak in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | coassement , coasser, croasser , crever, clamser |
| German | Quaken , krächzen , krepieren, abkratzen , quaken |
| Portuguese | coaxada, coaxo , grasnir, grasnar , coaxar , matar |
| Spanish | croac , palmar, palmarla, espicharla , croar, groar |
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 croak come from?
From Middle English *croken, crouken, (also represented by craken > crake), back-formation from Old English crācettan (“to croak”) (also in derivative crǣcetung (“croaking”)), from Proto-Germanic *krēk-, from Proto-Indo-European *greh₂-g-, from *greh₂-k-, of onomatopoeic origin. See also Swedish kråka, German krächzen, Sanskrit गर्जति (garjati, “to growl”); also compare Latin grāculus (“jackdaw”), Serbo-Croatian grákati. More at crack, crake and craic.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).