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PlainSpell

er

/ɜɹ/interjection, verb, noun

er is spelled E-R: 2 letters and one syllable. It appears 17 times per million words in written English, the 4,752nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an interjection, er means “Said when hesitating in speech” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in er?

Letters2: E-R
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing17 times per million words; the 4,752nd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is er?

Er appears 17 times per million words in written English, the 4,752nd 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 er?

  • /ɜː/
  • US /ɜɹ/

Er 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)-Vealhurl-er.wav, En-us--er.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with er?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as er from its last stressed vowel (/ɜɹ/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of er

  • err
  • ers present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • erring participle, present
  • erred participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does er mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

interjection

  1. 1

    informalSaid when hesitating in speech.

verb

  1. 1

    informalTo utter the word er when hesitating in speech.

    um and er

noun

  1. 1

    An occurrence of the interjection "er".

  2. 2

    The name of the Cyrillic script letter Р / р.

noun

as ER
  1. 1

    Initialism of earned run.

  2. 2

    Initialism of endoplasmic reticulum.

  3. 3

    Initialism of entity-relationship.

  4. 4

    Initialism of emergency room.

  5. 5

    Initialism of estrogen receptor.

  6. 6

    Initialism of Einstein-Rosen bridge.

  7. 7

    Initialism of enhanced radiation.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Er in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
French-eur, -euse ((used to form agent nouns) person or thing that…), plus (used to form the comparative of adjectives)
German-er ((used to form agent nouns) person or thing that…)
Portuguese-dor ((used to form agent nouns) person or thing that…), mais (used to form the comparative of adjectives), -eiro (person whose occupation is..), -ês, -ense, -ão ((used form a demonym) resident or inhabitant…)
Spanish-dor, -dora, -ero, -era ((used to form agent nouns) person or thing that…), más (used to form the comparative of adjectives), -ista (person whose occupation is..)

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 er come from?

Mimetic (sound of hesitation).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after er