key
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
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3 characters
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English
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "key", 3-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 "key" 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 "key" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
key is aEnglishnoun. It means: An object designed to open and close a lock. Pronounced /kiː/. It ranks #788 in English word frequency. Often confused with kI and ky.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | key |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kiː/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #788 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for key is 3 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kiː/. Corpus data places it at rank #788 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 34 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No frequent misspelling variants are recorded for key in our index, suggesting the orthography either follows predictable English patterns or the word is uncommon enough that typo corpora lack signal.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "kI", "ky", "ko", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English keye, kaye, keiȝe, from Old English cǣġ (“key, solution, experiment”) (whence also Scots key and kay (“key”)), from Anglo-Frisian Proto-West Germanic *kaiju, of uncertain origin. The only sure cognates are Saterland Frisian Koai (“key”),… 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 key, spelled K-E-Y, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1An object designed to open and close a lock.
- 2An object designed to fit between two other objects (such as a shaft and a wheel) in a mechanism and maintain their relative orientation.
- 3A crucial step or requirement.
- 4A small guide explaining symbols or terminology, especially the legend on a map or chart.
- 5A guide to the correct answers of a worksheet or test.
- 6One of several small, usually square buttons on a typewriter or computer keyboard, mostly corresponding to text characters.
- 7In musical instruments, one of the valve levers used to select notes, such as a lever opening a hole on a woodwind.
- 8In instruments with a keyboard such as an organ or piano, one of the levers, or especially the exposed front end of it, which are depressed to cause a particular sound or note to be produced.
- 9A scale or group of pitches constituting the basis of a musical composition.
- 10A scale or group of pitches constituting the basis of a musical composition.
- 11A scale or group of pitches constituting the basis of a musical composition.
- 12A scale or group of pitches constituting the basis of a musical composition.
- 13A scale or group of pitches constituting the basis of a musical composition.
- 14The general pitch or tone of a sentence or utterance.
- 15A modification of an advertisement so as to target a particular group or demographic.
- 16An indehiscent, one-seeded fruit furnished with a wing, such as the fruit of the ash and maple; a samara.
- 17A manual electrical switching device primarily used for the transmission of Morse code.
- 18A piece of information (e.g., a password or passphrase) used to encode or decode a message or messages.
- 19A password restricting access to an IRC channel.
- 20In a relational database, a field used as an index into another table (not necessarily unique).
- 21A value that uniquely identifies an entry in a container.
- 22Any of various tools comparable to a wrench (spanner) or driver, or, in some cases, also called a wrench or driver.
- 23A series of logically organized groups of discriminating information which aims to allow the user to correctly identify a taxon.
- 24A piece of wood used as a wedge.
- 25The last board of a floor when laid down.
- 26A keystone.
- 27That part of the plastering which is forced through between the laths and holds the rest in place.
- 28A wooden wedge, driven sideways between a bullhead rail and a cast-iron chair, to keep the rail securely in position.
- 29The degree of roughness, or retention ability of a surface to have applied a liquid such as paint, or glue.
- 30The thirty-third card of the Lenormand deck.
- 31The black ink layer, especially in relation to the three color layers of cyan, magenta, and yellow. See also CMYK.
- 32A color to be masked or made transparent.
- 33The free-throw lane together with the circle surrounding the free-throw line, the free-throw lane having formerly been narrower, giving the area the shape of a skeleton key hole.
- 34A key position player (a tall forward or defender).
Etymology
From Middle English keye, kaye, keiȝe, from Old English cǣġ (“key, solution, experiment”) (whence also Scots key and kay (“key”)), from Anglo-Frisian Proto-West Germanic *kaiju, of uncertain origin. The only sure cognates are Saterland Frisian Koai (“key”), West Frisian kaai (“key”), and North Frisian kai, koie (“key”). Possibly from Proto-Germanic *kēgaz, *kēguz (“stake, post, pole”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵogʰ-, *ǵegʰ-, *ǵegʰn- (“branch, stake, bush”), which would make it cognate with Middle Low German kāk (“whipping post, pillory”), and perhaps to Middle Dutch keige (“javelin, spear”) and Middle Low German keie, keige (“spear”). For the semantic development, note that medieval keys were simply long poles (ending in a hook) with which a crossbar obstructing a door from the inside could be removed from the outside, by lifting it through a hole in the door. Liberman has noted, however, "The original meaning of *kaig-jo- was presumably '*pin with a twisted end.' Words with the root *kai- followed by a consonant meaning 'crooked, bent; twisted' are common only in the North Germanic languages."
This word in other languages
Frequency rank: #788 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter K in our English index: