lout
/laʊt/
"lout" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“lout” is an uncommon English word, ranked #81,522 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #81,522
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A troublemaker, often violent; a rude violent person; a yob.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | lout |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /laʊt/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #81,522 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “lout” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for lout is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /laʊt/. Corpus data places it at rank #81,522 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for lout, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Of dialectal origin, likely derived from Middle English louten (“to bow, bend low, stoop over”), from Old English lūtan (“to bow, bend forward, stoop”), from Proto-West Germanic *lūtan, from Proto-Germanic *lūtaną (“to bow down, lout”). Alternatively, deriv… The correct English form is lout, spelled L-O-U-T.
Definition
- 1A troublemaker, often violent; a rude violent person; a yob.
- 2A clownish, awkward fellow; a bumpkin.
Etymology
Of dialectal origin, likely derived from Middle English louten (“to bow, bend low, stoop over”), from Old English lūtan (“to bow, bend forward, stoop”), from Proto-West Germanic *lūtan, from Proto-Germanic *lūtaną (“to bow down, lout”). Alternatively, derived from Middle English louten (“to hide, lurk”), from Old English lūtian (“to lurk, skulk”), from Proto-West Germanic *lūtēn (“to be hidden, be concealed”). Compare Old Norse lútr (“stooping”), Gothic 𐌻𐌿𐍄𐍉𐌽 (lutōn, “to deceive”). Non-Germanic cognates are probably Old Church Slavonic лоудити (luditi, “to deceive”), Serbo-Croatian lud and Albanian lut (“to beg, pray”).
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
How do you spell "lout"?
What does "lout" mean?
How do you pronounce "lout"?
What is the origin of the word "lout"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “lout”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is L-O-U-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /laʊt/ (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.