curdle
/ˈkɜː.dəl/
"curdle" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“curdle” is an uncommon English word, ranked #92,506 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #92,506
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To form curds so that it no longer flows smoothly; to cause to form such curds. (usually said of milk)
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | curdle |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈkɜː.dəl/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #92,506 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “curdle” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for curdle is 6 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈkɜː.dəl/. Corpus data places it at rank #92,506 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Zero misspellings are on record for curdle in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: Metathesis of earlier dialectal cruddle, crudle, equivalent to curd + -le (frequentative suffix). The correct English form is curdle, spelled C-U-R-D-L-E.
Definition
- 1To form curds so that it no longer flows smoothly; to cause to form such curds. (usually said of milk)
- 2To clot or coagulate; to cause to congeal, such as through cold. (metaphorically of blood)
- 3To cause a liquid to spoil and form clumps so that it no longer flows smoothly.
Etymology
Metathesis of earlier dialectal cruddle, crudle, equivalent to curd + -le (frequentative suffix).
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); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “curdle”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-U-R-D-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈkɜː.dəl/ (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.