fur
/fɝ/noun, verb, conjunction, preposition
fur is spelled F-U-R: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 11 times per million words in written English, the 6,784th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “fir vs fur” about 110 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, fur means “The hairy coat of various mammal species, especially when fine, soft and thick” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of fur is furs.
How many letters and syllables are in fur?
| Letters | 3: F-U-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 11 times per million words; the 6,784th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is fur?
Fur appears 11 times per million words in written English, the 6,784th 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 fur?
- UK /fɜː/
- British /fəː/
- US /fɝ/
Fur 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: En-us-fur.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with fur
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: fir (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with fur?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as fur from its last stressed vowel (/ɜɹ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: urf.
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 fur
- furs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- furring participle, present
- furred participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does fur mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The hairy coat of various mammal species, especially when fine, soft and thick.
- 2
The hairy skins of animals used as a material for clothing.
- 3
An animal pelt used to make, trim or line clothing.
During the colonial period, Britain used Canada as a major source of furs.
- 4
A garment made of fur.
November 17, 1716, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, letter to the Countess of Mar wrapped up in my furs
- 5
A thick pile of fabric.
- 6
The soft, downy covering on the skin of a peach.
- 7
The deposit formed on the interior of boilers and other vessels by hard water.
- 8
The layer of epithelial debris on a tongue.
verb
- 1
To cover with fur or a fur-like coating.
- 2
To become covered with fur or a fur-like coating.
- 3
To level a surface by applying furring to it.
noun
- 1
A member of a Nilo-Saharan people of western Sudan.
conjunction
- 1
Pronunciation spelling of for.
preposition
- 1
Pronunciation spelling of for.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Fur in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | fourrure , fourrer |
| German | Fell, Pelz, Behaarung |
| Portuguese | pelo, pelagem , forrar , pele |
| Spanish | pelo, pelaje , piel |
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.