gawk
/ɡɔːk/
"gawk" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“gawk” is uncommon English (frequency #59,412 among 18,276 “G” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #59,412
- frequency rank, English
- 18,276
- “G” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A cuckoo; (sometimes by extension) any gawky bird.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | gawk |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɡɔːk/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #59,412 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “gawk” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
gawk is uncommon English at frequency #59,412 among 18,276 “G” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ɡɔːk/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
gawk doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From a variant of gowk, from Middle English gowke, goke, from Old Norse gaukr (“cuckoo”), from Proto-Germanic *gaukaz (“cuckoo”). Cognate with Danish gøg, Swedish gök, German Gauch, Old English ġēac. Compare also French gauche, and English gawky and gallock. The correct English form is gawk, spelled G-A-W-K.
Definition
- 1A cuckoo; (sometimes by extension) any gawky bird.
- 2A fool; a simpleton; a stupid or clumsy person.
Etymology
From a variant of gowk, from Middle English gowke, goke, from Old Norse gaukr (“cuckoo”), from Proto-Germanic *gaukaz (“cuckoo”). Cognate with Danish gøg, Swedish gök, German Gauch, Old English ġēac. Compare also French gauche, and English gawky and gallock.
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); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “gawk”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is G-A-W-K - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ɡɔːk/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.