cumber
/ˈkʌmbə/
"cumber" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cumber” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a verb - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To slow down; to hinder; to burden; to encumber.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cumber |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈkʌmbə/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “cumber” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for cumber is 6 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈkʌmbə/. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "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.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “cumber”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-U-M-B-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈkʌmbə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.