dry up

verb

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

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

The verdict

“dry up” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
6
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To become dry (often of weather); to lose water.

Corpus desk

Index EN-dry-up · dry up · English

dry up · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "D" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for dry up
PropertyValue
Headworddry up
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters6
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “dry up” in English

dry upsits beyond the 100,000 most-frequent English words, in the long tail of technical, archaic, or otherwise rare vocabulary where spelling doubt tends to strike hardest.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

dry up is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 8 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for dry up, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct English form is dry up, spelled D-R-Y- -U-P.

Definition

  1. 1
    To become dry (often of weather); to lose water.
  2. 2
    To cause to become dry.
  3. 3
    To manually dry dishes and utensils.
  4. 4
    To deprive someone of (something vital).
  5. 5
    To gradually decrease and eventually cease.
  6. 6
    To stop talking because one has forgotten what one was going to say.
  7. 7
    To stop talking because one has forgotten what one was going to say.
  8. 8
    To stop talking or drop a topic.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. I'll go shopping when it dries up.
  2. Last summer the lake completely dried up.

This word in other languages

austrocknen(Deutsch)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "dry up"?
"dry up" is spelled D-R-Y- -U-P.
What does "dry up" mean?
As a verb, "dry up" means: To become dry (often of weather); to lose water.
What language does "dry up" come from?
"dry up" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list