gooseberry
/ˈɡusˌbɛɹi/noun
gooseberry is spelled G-O-O-S-E-B-E-R-R-Y: 10 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 51,129th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, gooseberry means “A fruit of species Ribes uva-crispa, related to the currant” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of gooseberry is gooseberries.
How many letters and syllables are in gooseberry?
| Letters | 10: G-O-O-S-E-B-E-R-R-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 3 million words; the 51,129th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is gooseberry?
Gooseberry appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 51,129th 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 gooseberry?
- US /ˈɡusˌbɛɹi/
- UK /ˈɡʊzb(ə)ɹi/
- UK /ˈɡuːsb(ə)ɹi/
Gooseberry has 3 syllables (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-gooseberry.ogg, En-au-gooseberry.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of gooseberry
- gooseberries plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does gooseberry mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A fruit of species Ribes uva-crispa, related to the currant.
We had a good haul of gooseberries from our bushes this year.
- 2
Any other plant or fruit in the subgenus Grossularia, distinguished from currants by bearing spines, including Ribes hirtellum (American gooseberry).
- 3
Chinese gooseberry or kiwifruit, the edible berry of a cultivar group of the woody vine Actinidia chinensis var. deliciosa and hybrids between this and others in the genus Actinidia
- 4
Indian gooseberry (Phyllanthus emblica), emblic, amla.
- 5
Ceylon gooseberry, a species of Dovyalis native to Sri Lanka and southern India
- 6
Barbados gooseberry (Pereskia aculeata), an unusual cactus
- 7
Long Key locustberry or shiny locustberry (Byrsonima lucida)
- 8
Jamaican gooseberry tree (Phyllanthus acuminatus), a herb-like plant
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Gooseberry in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | groseille à maquereau |
| German | Stachelbeere , fünftes Rad am Wagen |
| Portuguese | groselha |
| Spanish | uva espina, uva crespa , carabina, trotona |
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.
Where does gooseberry come from?
From goose + berry. It is possible that the first element was originally something related to the gros- of French groseille and/or the kruis- of Dutch kruisbes but has been altered by folk etymology.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).