furl
/fɜːl/
"furl" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“furl” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 4
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To lower, roll up and secure (something, such as a sail or flag)
Corpus desk
Index EN-furl · furl · English
furl · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "F" 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 | furl |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /fɜːl/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “furl” in English
Rare enough to double-check
furl is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed /fɜːl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To lower, roll up and secure (something, such as a sail or flag)".
furl has no tracked misspelling variants, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: Perhaps from Old French ferlier, modern French ferler. The correct English form is furl, spelled F-U-R-L.
Definition
- 1To lower, roll up and secure (something, such as a sail or flag)
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how furl appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
With the landless gull, that at sunset folds her wings and is rocked to sleep between billows; so at nightfall, the Nantucketer, out of sight of land, furls his sails, and lays him to his rest, while under his very pillow rush herds of walruses and whales.
When he heard a voice thus calling to him, he was standing at the door of his box, with a flag in his hand, furled round its short pole.
Etymology
Perhaps from Old French ferlier, modern French ferler.
Antonyms
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.