luck
/lʌk/noun, verb
luck is spelled L-U-C-K: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 81 times per million words in written English, the 1,302nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, luck means “Something that happens to someone by chance, a chance occurrence” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of luck is lucks.
How many letters and syllables are in luck?
| Letters | 4: L-U-C-K |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 81 times per million words; the 1,302nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with |
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 luck?
Luck appears 81 times per million words in written English, the 1,302nd 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 luck?
- UK /lʌk/
- UK [lɐk]
- US /lʌk/
Luck 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Back_ache-luck.wav, En-us-luck.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with luck
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with luck?
6 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as luck from its last stressed vowel (/ʌk/):
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 luck
- lucks plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- lucking participle, present
- lucked participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does luck mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Something that happens to someone by chance, a chance occurrence.
The raffle is just a matter of luck.
- 2
A favourable chance occurrence.
Sometimes it takes a bit of luck to get success.
- 3
A superstitious feeling that brings fortune or success.
He blew on the dice for luck.
- 4
Success.
I tried for ages to find a pair of blue suede shoes, but didn't have any luck.
- 5
The results of a random number generator.
The creators of tool-assisted speedruns often manipulate luck to get the most favorable results in order to save the most time.
verb
- 1
informalTo find something through good fortune; used with into, on, onto or upon.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate luck?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of luck: LCK.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Luck in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense something that happens to someone by chance:
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 luck come from?
From Middle English luk, lukke, from Middle Dutch luc, geluc, gelucke (“good luck, fortune”) or Middle Low German lücke, gelücke (“lot, fortune, fate, luck”), of obscure origin; perhaps ultimately related to German Lücke (“gap, opening”) in the sense of "space or opportunity", hence "chance".
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).