# duck

> English word · Verb · IPA /dʌk/ · frequency rank #5,031

## Definitions
1. To quickly lower (the head or body), often in order to prevent it from being struck by something.
2. To lower (something) into water; to thrust or plunge under liquid and suddenly withdraw.
3. To go under the surface of water and immediately reappear; to plunge one's head into water or other liquid.
4. To bow.
5. To evade doing something, especially something considered a responsibility.
6. To lower the volume of (a sound) so that other sounds in the mix can be heard more clearly.
7. To enter a place for a short moment.

## Etymology
From Middle English ducken, duken, douken (“to duck, plunge under water, submerge”), from Old English *dūcan (“to dip, dive, duck”), from Proto-West Germanic *dūkan, from Proto-Germanic *dūkaną (“to dip, dive, bend down, stoop, duck”).
Cognates
Related to Scots dulk (“to duck”), Middle Dutch ducken (“to duck”), Low German ducken (“to duck”), German ducken (“to duck”), Danish dukke, dykke (“to dive”). Related also to Scots dook, douk (“to bathe, drench, soak, baptise”), West Frisian dûke (“to plunge, dive”), Dutch duiken (“to dive, plunge, duck”), Low German duken (“to duck, dive, stoop”), German tauchen (“to dive, plunge, immerse, duck”), Swedish dyka (“to dive, submerge”).

## Easily confused with
- **due** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/duck-vs-due)
- **duo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/duck-vs-duo)
- **dug** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/duck-vs-dug)
- **duh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/duck-vs-duh)
- **DUI** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/duck-vs-dui)
- **dun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/duck-vs-dun)
- **dum** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/duck-vs-dum)
- **dup** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/duck-vs-dup)
- **dud** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/duck-vs-dud)
- **dur** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/duck-vs-dur)
- **dude** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/duck-vs-dude)
- **duty** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/duck-vs-duty)
- **dumb** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/duck-vs-dumb)
- **duke** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/duck-vs-duke)
- **dust** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/duck-vs-dust)
- **dump** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/duck-vs-dump)
- **dull** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/duck-vs-dull)
- **Dunn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/duck-vs-dunn)
- **duel** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/duck-vs-duel)
- **duct** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/duck-vs-duct)

## Common misspellings (6)
`dcuk`, `dduck`, `ducck`, `duckk`, `dukc`, `udck`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/duck