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PlainSpell

lore

/loɹ/noun

lore is spelled L-O-R-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 3.5 times per million words in written English, the 13,897th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “lore vs lure” about 110 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, lore means “All the facts and traditions about a particular subject that have been accumulated over time through education or experience” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of lore is lores.

How many letters and syllables are in lore?

Letters4: L-O-R-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing3.5 times per million words; the 13,897th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Sounds like
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is lore?

Lore appears 3.5 times per million words in written English, the 13,897th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce lore?

  • UK /lɔː/
  • US /loɹ/
  • /lo(ː)ɹ/

Lore has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-lore.ogg, En-us-lore.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with lore

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

lore vs lure110 G
law vs lore0 B

Sounds like: law (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with lore?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as lore from its last stressed vowel (/oɹ/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: role, relo, orle, eorl.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of lore

  • lores plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does lore mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    All the facts and traditions about a particular subject that have been accumulated over time through education or experience.

    the recondite lore of the Ancient Egyptians

  2. 2

    slangThe backstory, especially for a character or setting, created around a fictional universe.

    Lore documents reveal that she was backstabbed by her subordinate, who wanted to become king, and she feels vengeful about it.

  3. 3

    slangTrivia shared by a person about themselves.

    It's Ashot lore that I used to have a priv where I posted pictures of weird animals I found on the street.

  4. 4

    obsoleteWorkmanship.

  5. 5

    The region between the eyes and nostrils of birds, reptiles, and amphibians.

  6. 6

    The anterior portion of the cheeks of insects.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Lore in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchtraditions, savoir-faire (all the facts and traditions about a particular…), univers, lore (the backstory created around a fictional…)
GermanWissen, Überlieferung, Kunde, Lehre, Weisheit, Regeln (all the facts and traditions about a particular…)
Portuguesesaber, sabedoria, tradição (all the facts and traditions about a particular…)
Spanishsabiduría, tradición, erudición, acervo, etnografía, mitología (all the facts and traditions about a particular…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does lore come from?

From Middle English lore, from Old English lār, from Proto-West Germanic *laiʀu, from Proto-Germanic *laizō, from *laizijaną (“to teach”). Cognate with Dutch leer, German Lehre, Swedish lära and Danish lære. See also learn.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after lore