deserve
de·serve/dɪˈzɝv/verb
deserve is spelled D-E-S-E-R-V-E, 2 syllables: de·serve. The wrong spelling people search most is diserve: about 30 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 58 of all searches for the word. Deserve is a verb meaning “To be entitled to, as a result of past actions; to be worthy to have”.
How many letters and syllables are in deserve?
| Letters | 7: D-E-S-E-R-V-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: de·serve |
| In writing | 39 times per million words; the 2,523rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, diserve, about 30 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; 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 do you spell deserve?
Deserve is spelled D-E-S-E-R-V-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 58 of the searches for deserve in either form.
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). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is deserve?
Deserve appears 39 times per million words in written English, the 2,523rd 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 deserve?
- UK /dɪˈzɜːv/
- US /dɪˈzɝv/
- US /dəˈzɝv/
Deserve has 2 syllables, split de·serve in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-deserve.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-deserve.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with deserve?
8 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as deserve from its last stressed vowel (/ɜɹv/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: severed.
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 deserve
- deserves present, singular, he/she/it
- deserving participle, present
- deserved participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does deserve mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To be entitled to, as a result of past actions; to be worthy to have.
After playing so well, the team really deserved their win.
- 2
obsoleteTo earn, win.
- 3
obsoleteTo reward, to give in return for service.
- 4
obsoleteTo serve; to treat; to benefit.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Deserve in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense to merit:
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 deserve come from?
From Middle English deserven, from Old French deservir, from Latin dēserviō, from dē- + serviō.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).