loiter
/ˈlɔɪtə(ɹ)/
"loiter" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“loiter” is an uncommon English word, ranked #60,934 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #60,934
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To stand about without any aim or purpose; to stand about idly.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | loiter |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈlɔɪtə(ɹ)/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #60,934 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “loiter” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for loiter is 6 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈlɔɪtə(ɹ)/. Corpus data places it at rank #60,934 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for loiter, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English loitren, from Middle Dutch loteren ("to shake, wag, wobble"; > modern Dutch leuteren (“to dawdle, ramble”)), ultimately connected with a frequentative form of Proto-Germanic *lūtaną (“to bend, stoop, cower, shrink from, decline”), see lo… The correct English form is loiter, spelled L-O-I-T-E-R.
Definition
- 1To stand about without any aim or purpose; to stand about idly.
- 2To stroll about without any aim or purpose, to ramble, to wander.
- 3To remain at a certain place instead of moving on.
- 4For an aircraft to remain in the air near a target.
Etymology
From Middle English loitren, from Middle Dutch loteren ("to shake, wag, wobble"; > modern Dutch leuteren (“to dawdle, ramble”)), ultimately connected with a frequentative form of Proto-Germanic *lūtaną (“to bend, stoop, cower, shrink from, decline”), see lout. Cognate with Dutch leuteren (“to dawdle”), Alemannic German lottern (“to wobble”), German Lotterbube (“rascal”). More at lout, little.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “loiter”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is L-O-I-T-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈlɔɪtə(ɹ)/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.