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PlainSpell

curry

/ˈkʌ.ɹi/noun, verb

curry is spelled C-U-R-R-Y: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 9.1 times per million words in written English, the 7,553rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, curry means “One of a family of dishes originating from Indian cuisine, flavored by a spiced sauce” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of curry is curries.

How many letters and syllables are in curry?

Letters5: C-U-R-R-Y
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing9.1 times per million words; the 7,553rd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is curry?

Curry appears 9.1 times per million words in written English, the 7,553rd most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce curry?

  • US /ˈkʌ.ɹi/
  • /kɝ.i/
  • /ˈkʊ.ɹi/

Curry has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-ne-curry.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with curry

Also written: quarry.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with curry?

5 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as curry from its last stressed vowel (/ʌɹi/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of curry

  • curries plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • currying participle, present
  • curried participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does curry mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    One of a family of dishes originating from Indian cuisine, flavored by a spiced sauce.

    beef curry

  2. 2

    A spiced sauce or relish, especially one flavored with curry powder.

  3. 3

    Curry powder.

  4. 4

    derogatoryA person of South Asian heritage.

    […] while another tells us that white women “are also THE most racist group of foids. they would rather put a bullet through their brain than date a curry or sandcel.”

verb

  1. 1

    To cook or season with curry powder.

  2. 2

    To groom (a horse); to dress or rub down a horse with a curry comb.

  3. 3

    To dress (leather) after it is tanned by beating, rubbing, scraping and colouring.

  4. 4

    To beat, thrash; to drub.

  5. 5

    To try to win or gain (favour) by flattering.

  6. 6

    To perform currying upon.

  7. 7

    obsoleteTo scurry; to ride or run hastily

  8. 8

    obsoleteTo cover (a distance); (of a projectile) to traverse (its range).

    All these shots shall curry or finish their ranges in times equal to each other.

  9. 9

    obsoleteTo hurry.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Curry in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchcurry (dish), cari (sauce or relish)
GermanCurry (dish), Currysoße (sauce or relish), kardätschen, striegeln (to groom a horse), nasszurichten (to dress leather), dreschen (to beat or thrash)
Portuguesecurry, caril (dish)
Spanishcurri (dish), curry, cari (sauce or relish)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does curry come from?

1747 (as currey, first published recipe for the dish in English), from Tamil கறி (kaṟi), influenced by existing Middle English cury (“cooking”), from Middle French cuyre (“to cook”) (whence also cuisine), from Vulgar Latin cocere, from Latin coquere. Earlier cury found in 1390 cookbook Forme of Cury (Forms of Cooking) by court chefs of Richard II of England.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after curry