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PlainSpell

curse

/kɝs/noun, verb

curse is spelled C-U-R-S-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 12 times per million words in written English, the 6,347th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, curse means “A supernatural detriment or hindrance; a bane” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of curse is curses.

How many letters and syllables are in curse?

Letters5: C-U-R-S-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing12 times per million words; the 6,347th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Rhymes with
Same letters

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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is curse?

Curse appears 12 times per million words in written English, the 6,347th 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 curse?

  • UK /kɜːs/
  • US /kɝs/

Curse has one syllable (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-curse.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with curse

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

course vs curse0 B

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with curse?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as curse from its last stressed vowel (/ɜɹs/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: sucre, cruse.

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 curse

  • curses plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • cursing participle, present
  • cursed participle, past

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

What does curse mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A supernatural detriment or hindrance; a bane.

  2. 2

    A prayer or imprecation that harm may befall someone.

  3. 3

    The cause of great harm, evil, or misfortune; that which brings evil or severe affliction; torment.

  4. 4

    A vulgar epithet.

  5. 5

    datedderogatoryslangA woman's menses.

verb

  1. 1

    To place a curse upon (a person or object).

  2. 2

    To call upon divine or supernatural power to send injury upon; to imprecate evil upon; to execrate.

  3. 3

    To speak or shout a vulgar curse or epithet.

  4. 4

    To use offensive or morally inappropriate language.

  5. 5

    To bring great evil upon; to be the cause of serious harm or unhappiness to; to furnish with that which will be a cause of deep trouble; to afflict or injure grievously; to harass or torment.

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

Curse in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchmauvais sort, malédiction (supernatural detriment), juron (vulgar epithet), maudire (to place a curse upon), jurer, gronder (to use offensive language)
GermanFluch, Verwünschung, Verdammnis (supernatural detriment), fluchen, verfluchen, verdammen (to place a curse upon)
Portuguesemaldição (supernatural detriment), praga, palavra de baixo calão, vulgaridade, obscenidade (vulgar epithet), amaldiçoar (to place a curse upon)
Spanishmaldición (supernatural detriment), mala palabra (vulgar epithet), maldecir, imprecar, anatematizar (to place a curse upon), aojar (to call upon divine or supernatural power to…)

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 curse come from?

From Middle English curse, kors, cors, curs, from Old English cors, curs (“curse”), of unknown origin.

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

What to look up after curse