gorse
/ɡɔɹs/
"gorse" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“gorse” is uncommon English (frequency #62,929 among 18,276 “G” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #62,929
- frequency rank, English
- 18,276
- “G” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An evergreen shrub, of the genus Ulex, having thorns, spiny leaves, and yellow flowers.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | gorse |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɡɔɹs/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #62,929 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “gorse” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
gorse is uncommon English at frequency #62,929 among 18,276 “G” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ɡɔɹs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "An evergreen shrub, of the genus Ulex, having thorns, spiny leaves, and yellow flowers.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for gorse, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English gorst, gors, from Old English gors, gorst, from Proto-West Germanic *gorst, from Proto-Germanic *gurstaz or Proto-West Germanic *gerstu (“barley”). Akin to German Gerste (“barley”) and Latin hordeum (“barley”). Also compare Proto-Indo-Eu… The correct English form is gorse, spelled G-O-R-S-E.
Definition
- 1An evergreen shrub, of the genus Ulex, having thorns, spiny leaves, and yellow flowers.
Etymology
From Middle English gorst, gors, from Old English gors, gorst, from Proto-West Germanic *gorst, from Proto-Germanic *gurstaz or Proto-West Germanic *gerstu (“barley”). Akin to German Gerste (“barley”) and Latin hordeum (“barley”). Also compare Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰer- (“to bristle”), whence Proto-Celtic *garwos.
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 “gorse”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is G-O-R-S-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ɡɔɹs/ (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.