# load

> English word · Noun · IPA /loʊd/ · frequency rank #2,587

## Definitions
1. A burden; a weight to be carried.
2. A worry or concern to be endured, especially in the phrase a load off one's mind.
3. A certain number of articles or quantity of material that can be transported or processed at one time.
4. A quantity of washing put into a washing machine for a wash cycle.
5. Used to form nouns that indicate a large quantity, often corresponding to the capacity of a vehicle
6. A large number or amount.
7. The volume of work required to be performed.
8. The force exerted on a structural component such as a beam, girder, cable etc.
9. The electrical current or power delivered by a device.
10. A resistive force encountered by a prime mover when performing work.
11. Any component that draws current or power from an electrical circuit.
12. A unit of measure for various quantities.
13. Ellipsis of viral load.
14. A very small explosive inserted as a gag into a cigarette or cigar.
15. The charge of powder for a firearm; a loaded cartridge or round of ammunition.
16. Weight or violence of blows.
17. defecation
18. The contents (e.g. semen) of an ejaculation.
19. Nonsense; rubbish.
20. The process of loading something, i.e. transferring it into memory or over a network, etc.
21. prepaid phone credit

## Etymology
The sense of “burden” first arose in the 13th century as a secondary meaning of Middle English lode, loade, which had the main significance of “way, course, journey”, from Old English lād (“course, journey; way, street, waterway; leading, carrying; maintenance, support”) (ultimately from Proto-Germanic *laidō (“leading, way”), Proto-Indo-European *leyt- (“to go, go forth, die”).
Cognate with Middle Low German leide (“entourage, escort”), German Leite (“line, course, load”), Swedish led (“way, trail, line”), Icelandic leið (“way, course, route”). As such, load is a doublet of lode, which has preserved the older meaning.
Most likely, the semantic extension of the Middle English substantive arose by conflation with the (etymologically unrelated) verb lade; however, Middle English lode occurs only as a substantive; the transitive verb load (“to charge with a load”) is recorded only in the 16th century (frequently in Shakespeare),
and (except for the participle laden) has largely supplanted lade in modern English.
For the meaning development from PIE, compare Latin carrus (whence carry) akin to currō.

## Easily confused with
- **lot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/load-vs-lot)
- **low** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/load-vs-low)
- **lol** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/load-vs-lol)
- **los** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/load-vs-los)
- **log** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/load-vs-log)
- **Lou** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/load-vs-lou)
- **loo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/load-vs-loo)
- **LSD** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/load-vs-lsd)
- **LOC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/load-vs-loc)
- **Lon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/load-vs-lon)
- **lob** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/load-vs-lob)
- **lor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/load-vs-lor)
- **lop** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/load-vs-lop)
- **Lua** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/load-vs-lua)
- **Lod** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/load-vs-lod)
- **lox** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/load-vs-lox)
- **loy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/load-vs-loy)
- **Loh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/load-vs-loh)
- **love** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/load-vs-love)
- **long** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/load-vs-long)

## Common misspellings (5)
`laod`, `lload`, `loadd`, `loda`, `olad`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/load