drunk
/dɹʌŋk/adjective, adverb, noun, verb
drunk is spelled D-R-U-N-K: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 41 times per million words in written English, the 2,438th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “drank vs drunk” about 2,400 times a month (Google, United States). As an adjective, drunk means “Intoxicated as a result of excessive alcohol consumption, usually by drinking alcoholic beverages” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in drunk?
| Letters | 5: D-R-U-N-K |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 41 times per million words; the 2,438th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search |
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).
How common is drunk?
Drunk appears 41 times per million words in written English, the 2,438th 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 drunk?
- /dɹʌŋk/
Drunk 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Pvanp7-drunk.wav, En-us-drunk.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with drunk
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of drunk
- drunker comparative
- drunkest superlative
- more drunk comparative
- most drunk superlative
- drunks plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does drunk mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Intoxicated as a result of excessive alcohol consumption, usually by drinking alcoholic beverages.
- 2
derogatoryHabitually or frequently in a state of intoxication.
- 3
Elated or emboldened.
Drunk with power, he immediately ordered a management reshuffle.
- 4
Drenched or saturated with moisture or liquid.
adverb
- 1
While drunk.
He was arrested for driving drunk.
noun
- 1
One who is intoxicated with alcohol.
- 2
A habitual drinker, especially one who is frequently intoxicated.
- 3
A person whose behaviour when drunk tends to be of a specified kind.
He's a talkative drunk; three beers in and he's chattering away about everything.
- 4
A drinking bout; a period of drunkenness.
- 5
A drunken state.
verb
- 1
past participle of drink
- 2
simple past of drink
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Drunk in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | ivre, soûl, bourré, paqueté, saoul, schlass |
| German | betrunken, besoffen, fett , Trinker, Trinkerin, Säufer |
| Portuguese | bêbado, bêbedo, ébrio, alcoolizado , bebum, bebo |
| Spanish | borracho, ebrio, pedo, tomado, beodo, embriagado |
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 drunk come from?
From Middle English drunke, drunken, ydrunke, ydrunken, from Old English druncen, ġedruncen (“drunk”), from Proto-Germanic *drunkanaz, *gadrunkanaz (“drunk; drunken”), past participle of Proto-Germanic *drinkaną (“to drink”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian dronken, West Frisian dronken, Dutch dronken, gedronken, German Low German drunken, bedrunken, German trunken, getrunken, betrunken, Swedish drucken, Icelandic drukkinn.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).