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crusade

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

7 characters

Language

English

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "crusade", 7-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 "crusade" 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 "crusade" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

crusade is aEnglishnoun. It means: Any of the Papally-endorsed military expeditions undertaken by the Christians of Latin Europe in the 11th to 13th centuries to reconquer the Levant from the Muslims, as well as expeditions along th... Pronounced /kɹuːˈseɪd/. Often confused with Crusoe and crusader.

Key facts for crusade
PropertyValue
Headwordcrusade
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/kɹuːˈseɪd/
Letters7
Frequency rank#13,129
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs3
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of crusade in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for crusade is 7 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kɹuːˈseɪd/. Corpus data places it at rank #13,129 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 10 documented wrong-spelling variants for crusade, with forms such as "ccrusade", "crrusade", and "crsuade". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "Crusoe", "crusader", "crude", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From French croisade, introduced into English (in the French spelling) by 1575. The modern spelling emerges c. 1760,. Middle French croisade is introduced in the 15th century, based on Spanish cruzada (late 14th century) and Old Occitan crozada (early 13th … 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 crusade, spelled C-R-U-S-A-D-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Any of the Papally-endorsed military expeditions undertaken by the Christians of Latin Europe in the 11th to 13th centuries to reconquer the Levant from the Muslims, as well as expeditions along the Baltic Sea and against the Cathars.
  2. 2
    Any war instigated and blessed by the Church for alleged religious ends, (especially) papal-sanctioned military campaigns against infidels or heretics.
  3. 3
    A grand, concerted effort towards some purportedly worthy cause.
  4. 4
    A mass gathering in a political campaign or during a religious revival effort.
  5. 5
    A Portuguese coin; a crusado.

Etymology

From French croisade, introduced into English (in the French spelling) by 1575. The modern spelling emerges c. 1760,. Middle French croisade is introduced in the 15th century, based on Spanish cruzada (late 14th century) and Old Occitan crozada (early 13th century), both reflecting Medieval Latin cruciāta, cruxiata, the feminine singular of the adjective cruciātus used as an abstract noun. Adjectival cruciātus originally meant "tormented; crucified", but from the 12th century crucesignatus was also used for "marked with a cross; making the sign of the cross" and eventually "taking the cross" in the sense of "going on a crusade". Old Occitan crozada is used in the sense "[the Albigensian] crusade" in the Song of the Albigensian crusade, written c. 1213. From vernacular usage, Middle Latin cruciāta also comes to be used in the sense "crusade" from about 1270.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ccrusade,crrusade,crsuade,cruasde,crusadde,crusaed,crusdae,crussade,cursade,rcusade

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for crusade

Misspelling Variants of "crusade"

ccrusade8crrusade8crsuade7cruasde7crusadde8crusaed7crusdae7crussade8
Misspelling Variants of "crusade"

Frequency rank: #13,129 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "crusade"?
"crusade" is spelled C-R-U-S-A-D-E. The IPA pronunciation is /kɹuːˈseɪd/.
What does "crusade" mean?
As a noun, "crusade" means: Any of the Papally-endorsed military expeditions undertaken by the Christians of Latin Europe in the 11th to 13th centuries to reconquer the Levant from the Muslims, as well as expeditions along th...
What words are commonly confused with "crusade"?
"crusade" is commonly confused with "Crusoe", "crusader", "crude". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "crusade"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "crusade" is /kɹuːˈseɪd/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "crusade"?
From French croisade, introduced into English (in the French spelling) by 1575. The modern spelling emerges c. 1760,. Middle French croisade is introduced in the 15th century, based on Spanish cruzada (late 14th century) and Old Occitan crozada (e... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter C in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.