droop

/ˈdɹuːp/

//ˈdɹuːp// verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"droop" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“droop” is uncommon English (frequency #52,283 among 3,470 “D” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#52,283
frequency rank, English
3,470
“D” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To hang downward; to sag.

Corpus desk

Index EN-droop · droop · English

droop · rank #52,283 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #52,283
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,470
  • PHOTO-FINISH draughts

Nearest frequency peer: draughts (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “droop”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “droop” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for droop
PropertyValue
Headworddroop
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/ˈdɹuːp/
Letters5
Frequency rank#52,283
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “droop” in English

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).droopfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “draughts” (#52,282), “duce” (#52,284), “Dostoevsky” (#52,281). Among 3,470 “D” headwords, “droop” is #52,283. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

droop is uncommon English at frequency #52,283 among 3,470 “D” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /ˈdɹuːp/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for droop, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: Inherited from Middle English droupen, from Old Norse drúpa (“to droop”), from Proto-Germanic *drūpaną, *drupōną (“to hang down, drip, drop”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrewb- (“to drip, drop”). Doublet of drip and drop. The correct English form is droop, spelled D-R-O-O-P.

Definition

  1. 1
    To hang downward; to sag.
  2. 2
    To slowly become limp; to bend gradually.
  3. 3
    To lose all energy, enthusiasm or happiness; to flag.
  4. 4
    To allow to droop or sink.
  5. 5
    To proceed downward, or toward a close; to decline.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how droop appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. On the brown harvest tree / Droops the red cherry.
  2. Long before Shap platform showed up around a corner and the two arms on the gradient post drooped in both directions at once, Duchess of Buccleuch's amiable throbbing purr at the stack [funnel, chimney] had become a fierce freight-engine bark, as she resolutely dragged at her enormous load.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English droupen, from Old Norse drúpa (“to droop”), from Proto-Germanic *drūpaną, *drupōną (“to hang down, drip, drop”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrewb- (“to drip, drop”). Doublet of drip and drop.

This word in other languages

tomber(Français)durchhängen(Deutsch)

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 "droop"?
"droop" is spelled D-R-O-O-P. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈdɹuːp/.
What does "droop" mean?
As a verb, "droop" means: To hang downward; to sag.
How do you pronounce "droop"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "droop" is /ˈdɹuːp/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "droop"?
Inherited from Middle English droupen, from Old Norse drúpa (“to droop”), from Proto-Germanic *drūpaną, *drupōną (“to hang down, drip, drop”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrewb- (“to drip, drop”). Doublet of drip and drop. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "droop", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Fauci#52,312cap'n#52,207campy#52,206Cammy#52,205

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list