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PlainSpell

lurk

/lɝk/verb, noun

lurk is spelled L-U-R-K: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 25,367th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, lurk means “To remain concealed in order to ambush” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in lurk?

Letters4: L-U-R-K
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing1.3 times per million words; the 25,367th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in 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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is lurk?

Lurk appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 25,367th 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 lurk?

  • UK /lɜːk/
  • US /lɝk/

Lurk 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)-Vealhurl-lurk.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with lurk?

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

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 lurk

  • lurks present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • lurking participle, present
  • lurked participle, past

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

What does lurk mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To remain concealed in order to ambush.

  2. 2

    To remain unobserved.

  3. 3

    To hang out or wait around a location, preferably without drawing attention to oneself.

  4. 4

    To read an Internet forum without posting comments or making one's presence apparent.

  5. 5

    UKslangTo saddle (a person) with an undesirable task or duty.

noun

  1. 1

    The act of lurking.

  2. 2

    AustraliaUKobsoleteslangA swindle.

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

Lurk in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchse cacher, s'embusquer (to remain concealed in order to ambush), se dissimuler (to remain unobserved), traîner (to hang out or wait around a location)
Germanlauern (to remain concealed in order to ambush)
Portugueseespreitar (to remain concealed in order to ambush), latente (act of lurking)
Spanishacechar, agazaparse (to remain concealed in order to ambush), acecho, ocultamiento, merodeo, mironeo (act of lurking)

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 lurk come from?

From Middle English lurken, from Old Norse *lúrka, possibly from Proto-Germanic *lūrukōną (“to be lying in wait, lurk”), equivalent to lour + -k (frequentative suffix).

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

What to look up after lurk