get
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
3 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "get", 3-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "get" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "get" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
get is aEnglishverb. It means: To obtain; to acquire. Pronounced /ɡɛt/. It ranks #61 in English word frequency. Often confused with go and GM.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | get |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ɡɛt/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #61 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for get is 3 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɡɛt/. Corpus data places it at rank #61 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 33 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No frequent misspelling variants are recorded for get in our index, suggesting the orthography either follows predictable English patterns or the word is uncommon enough that typo corpora lack signal.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "go", "GM", "GF", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English geten, from Old Norse geta, from Proto-Germanic *getaną. Cognate with Old English ġietan (whence also English yet), Old Saxon getan (“to get, to gain sth.”), Old High German pigezzan (“to uphold”), Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐌲𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (bigitan, “to fin… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is get, spelled G-E-T, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1To obtain; to acquire.
- 2To receive.
- 3To have. See usage notes.
- 4To fetch, bring, take.
- 5To become, or cause oneself to become (often with temporary states, past participle adjectives and comparatives).
- 6To cause to become; to bring about.
- 7To cause to do.
- 8To cause to come or go or move.
- 9To adopt, assume, arrive at, or progress towards (a certain position, location, state).
- 10To cover (a certain distance) while travelling.
- 11(with full infinitive or gerund-participle) To begin (doing something or to do something).
- 12To take or catch (a scheduled transportation service).
- 13To respond to (a telephone call, a doorbell, etc).
- 14(with full infinitive) To be able, be permitted, or have the opportunity (to do something desirable or ironically implied to be desirable).
- 15To understand. (compare get it)
- 16To be told; be the recipient of (a question, comparison, opinion, etc.).
- 17Used with the past participle to form the dynamic passive voice of a dynamic verb. Compared with static passive with to be, this emphasizes the commencement of an action or entry into a state.
- 18Used with a pronoun subject, usually you but sometimes one, to indicate that the object of the verb exists, can occur or is otherwise typical.
- 19To become ill with or catch (a disease).
- 20To catch out, trick successfully.
- 21To perplex, stump.
- 22To find as an answer.
- 23To bring to reckoning; to catch (usually as a criminal); to effect retribution.
- 24To hear completely; catch.
- 25To getter.
- 26To beget (of a father).
- 27To learn; to commit to memory; to memorize; sometimes with out.
- 28Used with a personal pronoun to indicate that someone is being pretentious or grandiose.
- 29To go, to leave; to scram.
- 30To kill.
- 31To make acquisitions; to gain; to profit.
- 32To measure.
- 33To cause someone to laugh.
Etymology
From Middle English geten, from Old Norse geta, from Proto-Germanic *getaną. Cognate with Old English ġietan (whence also English yet), Old Saxon getan (“to get, to gain sth.”), Old High German pigezzan (“to uphold”), Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐌲𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (bigitan, “to find, discover”)), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- (“to seize”).
This word in other languages
Frequency rank: #61 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter G in our English index: