incur
/ɪnˈkɝ/verb
incur is spelled I-N-C-U-R: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 2.0 times per million words in written English, the 19,589th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, incur means “To bring upon oneself or expose oneself to, especially something inconvenient, harmful, or onerous; to become liable or subject to” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in incur?
| Letters | 5: I-N-C-U-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.0 times per million words; the 19,589th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is incur?
Incur appears 2.0 times per million words in written English, the 19,589th 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 incur?
- UK /ɪnˈkɜː/
- US /ɪnˈkɝ/
Incur has 2 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-incur.ogg, En-au-incur.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with incur?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as incur from its last stressed vowel (/ɜɹ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: runic.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of incur
- incurs present, singular, he/she/it
- incurring participle, present
- incurred participle, past
- encur
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does incur mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To bring upon oneself or expose oneself to, especially something inconvenient, harmful, or onerous; to become liable or subject to.
Near-synonym: contract (debts, etc.)
- 2
To render (somebody, or oneself) liable or subject to.
Near-synonyms: entail, invoke
- 3
obsoleteTo enter or pass into.
- 4
obsoleteTo fall within a period or scope; to occur; to run into danger.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Incur in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | s'exposer à, encourir, s'attirer, subir , impliquer, occasioner |
| German | zufügen, sich aussetzen (etwas), sich zuziehen (etwas), sich einhandeln (etwas), (etwas) auf sich nehmen, (Missfallen) erregen |
| Spanish | incurrir en, incidir en |
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 incur come from?
From Middle English incurren, from Anglo-Norman encurir, Middle French encourir, from Old French encorre, from Latin incurrere.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).