curt
/kɝt/
"curt" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“curt” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #23,505 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #23,505
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Brief or terse, especially to the point of being rude.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | curt |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /kɝt/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #23,505 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “curt” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for curt is 4 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kɝt/. Corpus data places it at rank #23,505 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for curt, with forms such as "ccurt", "crut", and "currt". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. 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 the Latin curtus (“shortened”). Cognate with Dutch kort, German kurz, Galician curto, French court, Italian corto, Portuguese curto, and Spanish corto. Doublet of short. The correct English form is curt, spelled C-U-R-T.
Definition
- 1Brief or terse, especially to the point of being rude.
- 2Short or concise.
Etymology
From the Latin curtus (“shortened”). Cognate with Dutch kort, German kurz, Galician curto, French court, Italian corto, Portuguese curto, and Spanish corto. Doublet of short.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccurt,crut,currt,curtt,cutr,ucrt
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of curt - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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
How do you spell "curt"?
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Using “curt”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-U-R-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kɝt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “cut” - see the side-by-side comparison. curt vs cut
- 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.