kettle
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
6 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "kettle", 6-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 "kettle" 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 "kettle" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
kettle is aEnglishnoun. It means: A vessel for boiling a liquid or cooking food, usually metal and equipped with a lid. Pronounced /ˈkɛ.təl/. Often confused with ketone.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | kettle |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkɛ.təl/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #14,152 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for kettle is 6 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈkɛ.təl/. Corpus data places it at rank #14,152 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 12 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 7 documented wrong-spelling variants for kettle, with forms such as "ekttle", "ketle", and "ketlte". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "ketone", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English ketel, also chetel, from Old English ċietel (“kettle, cauldron”) and in Middle English possibly influenced by Old Norse ketill and both from Proto-Germanic *katilaz (“kettle, bucket, vessel”), of uncertain origin and formation. Usually r… 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 kettle, spelled K-E-T-T-L-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A vessel for boiling a liquid or cooking food, usually metal and equipped with a lid.
- 2The quantity held by a kettle.
- 3A vessel or appliance used to boil water for the preparation of hot beverages and other foodstuffs.
- 4A kettle hole, sometimes any pothole.
- 5A group of raptors riding a thermal, especially when migrating.
- 6A steam locomotive.
- 7A kettledrum.
- 8An instance of kettling; a group of protesters or rioters confined in a limited area.
- 9A watch (timepiece).
- 10A bucket for holding a quantity of paint during the painting process.
- 11A type of encirclement.
- 12Ellipsis of kettle of fish.
Etymology
From Middle English ketel, also chetel, from Old English ċietel (“kettle, cauldron”) and in Middle English possibly influenced by Old Norse ketill and both from Proto-Germanic *katilaz (“kettle, bucket, vessel”), of uncertain origin and formation. Usually regarded as a borrowing of Late Latin catīllus (“small bowl”), diminutive of Latin catinus (“deep bowl, vessel for cooking up or serving food”), however, the word may be Germanic confused with the Latin: compare Old English cete (“cooking pot”), Old High German chezzi (“a kettle, dish, bowl”), Icelandic kati, ketla (“a small boat”). Cognate with West Frisian tsjettel (“kettle”), Dutch ketel (“kettle”), German Kessel (“kettle”), Swedish kittel (“cauldron, kettle”), Gothic 𐌺𐌰𐍄𐌹𐌻𐍃 (katils, “kettle”), Finnish kattila, Polish kocioł (“cauldron”), Czech kotel (“boiler”), Russian котёл (kotjól, “boiler, cauldron”). (watch): Cockney rhyming slang from 'kettle and hob' to 'fob' (fob watch).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ekttle,ketle,ketlte,kettel,kettlle,kkettle,ktetle
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for kettle
Misspelling Variants of "kettle"
Frequency rank: #14,152 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter K in our English index: