like
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
4 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "like", 4-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 "like" 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 "like" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
like is aEnglishverb. It means: To enjoy, be pleased by; favor; be in favor of. Pronounced /laɪ̯k/. It ranks #42 in English word frequency. Often confused with lit and lip.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | like |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /laɪ̯k/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #42 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for like is 4 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /laɪ̯k/. Corpus data places it at rank #42 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 12 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 5 documented wrong-spelling variants for like, with forms such as "ilke", "liek", and "likke". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "lit", "lip", "lil", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Verb from Middle English liken, from Old English līcian (“to like, to please”), from Proto-West Germanic *līkēn, from Proto-Germanic *līkāną, from Proto-Indo-European *leyg- (“image; likeness; similarity”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian liekje (“to be simi… 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 like, spelled L-I-K-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1To enjoy, be pleased by; favor; be in favor of.
- 2To enjoy, be pleased by; favor; be in favor of.
- 3To enjoy, be pleased by; favor; be in favor of.
- 4To prefer and maintain (an action) as a regular habit or activity.
- 5To find attractive; to prefer the company of; to have mild romantic feelings for.
- 6To want, desire. See also would like.
- 7To show support for, or approval of, something posted on the Internet by marking it with a vote.
- 8Of inanimate objects:
- 9Of inanimate objects:
- 10To come near; to avoid with difficulty; to escape narrowly.
- 11To have an appearance or expression; to look; to seem to be (in a specified condition).
- 12To liken; to compare.
Etymology
Verb from Middle English liken, from Old English līcian (“to like, to please”), from Proto-West Germanic *līkēn, from Proto-Germanic *līkāną, from Proto-Indo-European *leyg- (“image; likeness; similarity”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian liekje (“to be similar, resemble”), West Frisian lykje (“to seem, appear, look”), Dutch lijken (“to seem”), Low German lieken (“to be like; resemble”), German gleichen (“to resemble”), Swedish lika (“to like; put up with; align with”), Norwegian like (“to like”), Icelandic and Faroese líka (“to like”). Noun from Middle English like (“pleasure, will, like”), from the verb Middle English liken (“to like”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ilke,liek,likke,lkie,llike
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for like
Misspelling Variants of "like"
Frequency rank: #42 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter L in our English index: