eke out
"eke-out" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“eke out” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To supplement.
Corpus desk
Index EN-eke-out · eke out · English
eke out · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "E" 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | eke out |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “eke out” in English
Rare enough to double-check
eke out is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for eke out in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From obsolete eke (“to add to, augment; to increase”) + out. The correct English form is eke out, spelled E-K-E- -O-U-T.
Definition
- 1To supplement.
- 2To obtain with difficulty or effort.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how eke out appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The old man eked out his pension by selling vegetables from his garden.
Now the reaſons why they teach the calves to drink ſo ſoon are various. [...] Secondly, the goodwife ſaves milk by this way of drinking, for ſhe quickly ekes out the milk with pottage, &c.
Etymology
From obsolete eke (“to add to, augment; to increase”) + out.
This word in other languages
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.