curl
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
4 characters
Language
English
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "curl", 4-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 "curl" 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 "curl" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
curl is aEnglishnoun. It means: A curving piece or lock of hair; a ringlet. Pronounced /kɜːl/. Often confused with cut and cuz.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | curl |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kɜːl/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #14,502 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for curl is 4 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kɜːl/. Corpus data places it at rank #14,502 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 12 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 6 documented wrong-spelling variants for curl, with forms such as "ccurl", "crul", and "culr". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "cut", "cuz", "cute", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From metathesis of Middle English crulle (“curled, curly”), of uncertain origin but probably from an unrecorded Old English word or from Middle Dutch crul, crulle (“curl”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *kruzlǭ (“bent or crooked object, curl”), connected t… 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 curl, spelled C-U-R-L, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A curving piece or lock of hair; a ringlet.
- 2A curved stroke or shape.
- 3A spin making the trajectory of an object curve.
- 4Movement of a moving rock away from a straight line.
- 5Any exercise performed by bending the arm, wrist, or leg on the exertion against resistance, especially those that train the biceps.
- 6The vector field denoting the rotationality of a given vector field.
- 7The vector operator, denoted rm curl; or ⃑∇×⃑(·), that generates this field.
- 8Any of various diseases of plants causing the leaves or shoots to curl up; often specifically the potato curl.
- 9The contrasting light and dark figure seen in wood used for stringed instrument making; the flame.
- 10A pattern where the receiver appears to be running a fly pattern but after a set number of steps or yards quickly stops and turns around, looking for a pass.
- 11A thin, curved piece of chocolate used as decoration.
- 12The concave part of a breaking wave.
Etymology
From metathesis of Middle English crulle (“curled, curly”), of uncertain origin but probably from an unrecorded Old English word or from Middle Dutch crul, crulle (“curl”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *kruzlǭ (“bent or crooked object, curl”), connected to *krūsą (“curl”), of unknown origin. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Krulle (“curl, lock”), West Frisian krul (“curl”), Dutch krul (“curl”), German Low German Krull (“curl”), dialectal German Krolle (“curl”), Danish krølle (“curl”), Norwegian Bokmål krøll (“curl”). Related also to Saterland Frisian Kruus (“curl”), German kraus (“frizzy, crumpled, curly”), Danish krus (“curl”), Swedish krusa (“to crimp, curl”). Compare also Gothic 𐌺𐍂𐌹𐌿𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌽 (kriustan, “to grind, crush, gnash”).
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccurl,crul,culr,curll,currl,ucrl
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for curl
Misspelling Variants of "curl"
Frequency rank: #14,502 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter C in our English index: