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PlainSpell

crook

/kɹʊk/noun, verb, adjective

crook is spelled C-R-O-O-K: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.6 times per million words in written English, the 16,896th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, crook means “A bend; turn; curve; curvature; a flexure” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of crook is crooks.

How many letters and syllables are in crook?

Letters5: C-R-O-O-K
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing2.6 times per million words; the 16,896th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 crook?

Crook appears 2.6 times per million words in written English, the 16,896th 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 crook?

  • US /kɹʊk/
  • US [kɹ̠̊˔ʷʊk]
  • British /kɹɵk/

Crook 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_ck1_crook.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with crook?

7 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as crook from its last stressed vowel (/ʊk/):

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 crook

  • crooks plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • crooking participle, present
  • crooked participle, past
  • crooker comparative
  • crookest superlative

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does crook mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A bend; turn; curve; curvature; a flexure.

    She held the baby in the crook of her arm.

  2. 2

    A bending of the knee; a genuflection.

  3. 3

    A bent or curved part; a curving piece or portion (of anything).

    the crook of a cane

  4. 4

    A person who steals, lies, cheats, or does other dishonest or illegal things; a criminal; a scoundrel, scofflaw, lawbreaker, rogue, or miscreant.

  5. 5

    obsoleteA lock or curl of hair.

  6. 6

    obsoleteA support beam consisting of a post with a cross-beam resting upon it; a bracket or truss consisting of a vertical piece, a horizontal piece, and a strut.

  7. 7

    A specialized staff with a semi-circular bend (a "hook") at one end used by shepherds to control their herds.

    Even though I walk through a / valley dark as death / I fear no evil, for thou art with me, / thy staff and thy crook are my / comfort.

  8. 8

    A bishop's standard staff of office.

verb

  1. 1

    To bend, or form into a hook.

    He crooked his finger toward me.

  2. 2

    To become bent or hooked.

  3. 3

    To turn from the path of rectitude; to pervert; to misapply; to twist.

adjective

  1. 1

    AustraliaslangBad, unsatisfactory, not up to standard.

    That work you did on my car is crook, mate.

  2. 2

    AustraliaslangIll, sick.

    I′m feeling a bit crook.

  3. 3

    AustraliaslangAnnoyed, angry; upset.

    be crook at/about; go crook at

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Crook in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchescroc, arnaqueur (a criminal who steals, lies, cheats or does…), houlette (specialized staff used by shepherds), courbe (a bend), courber (to bend)
GermanGauner, Ganove (a criminal who steals, lies, cheats or does…), Krücke, Krückstock, Hirtenstab, Krummstab (specialized staff used by shepherds)
Portugueseladrão, ladra (a criminal who steals, lies, cheats or does…), cajado (specialized staff used by shepherds), gancho, curva (a bend), curvar (to bend)
Spanishladrón, ladrona, ratero, ratera, truhán, truhana (a criminal who steals, lies, cheats or does…)

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 crook come from?

From Middle English croke, crok, from Old English *crōc (“hook, bend, crook”), from Proto-West Germanic *krōk, from Proto-Germanic *krōkaz (“bend, hook”), from Proto-Indo-European *greg- (“tracery, basket, bend”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after crook