gleek
/ɡliːk/
"gleek" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“gleek” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 5
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A once-popular game of cards played by three people.
Corpus desk
Index EN-gleek · gleek · English
gleek · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "G" 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 | gleek |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɡliːk/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “gleek” in English
Rare enough to double-check
gleek is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ɡliːk/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for gleek in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle French glic, from Old French glic (“a game of cards”), of Germanic origin from or related to Middle High German glücke, gelücke (“luck”) and Middle Dutch gelīc (“like, alike”). More at luck, like. The correct English form is gleek, spelled G-L-E-E-K.
Definition
- 1A once-popular game of cards played by three people.
- 2Three of the same cards held in one hand; three of a kind.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how gleek appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Lady Loadstone: Laugh, and keep company, at gleek or crimp. / Mistress Polish: Your ladyship says right, crimp sure will cure her.
Etymology
From Middle French glic, from Old French glic (“a game of cards”), of Germanic origin from or related to Middle High German glücke, gelücke (“luck”) and Middle Dutch gelīc (“like, alike”). More at luck, like.
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.