cumber
/ˈkʌmbə/
"cumber" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cumber” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To slow down; to hinder; to burden; to encumber.
Corpus desk
Index EN-cumber · cumber · English
cumber · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "C" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cumber |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈkʌmbə/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “cumber” in English
Rare enough to double-check
cumber is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed /ˈkʌmbə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To slow down; to hinder; to burden; to encumber.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for cumber, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English combren, aphetic form of acombren or encombren, borrowed from Old French encombrer, ultimately either from Latin cumulus or Proto-Celtic *kombereti (“to bring together”), from *kom- + *bereti (“to bear”). Cognate with German kümmern (“to… The correct English form is cumber, spelled C-U-M-B-E-R.
Definition
- 1To slow down; to hinder; to burden; to encumber.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how cumber appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Why asks he what avails him not in fight, / And would but cumber and retard his flight?
The multiplying variety of arguments, especially frivolous ones, […] but cumbers the memory.
Etymology
From Middle English combren, aphetic form of acombren or encombren, borrowed from Old French encombrer, ultimately either from Latin cumulus or Proto-Celtic *kombereti (“to bring together”), from *kom- + *bereti (“to bear”). Cognate with German kümmern (“to take care of”).
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.