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PlainSpell

moor

/mʊə/noun, verb

moor is spelled M-O-O-R: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.2 times per million words in written English, the 18,297th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, moor means “An extensive waste covered with patches of heath, and having a poor, light (and usually acidic) soil, but sometimes marshy, and abounding in peat; a…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of moor is moors.

How many letters and syllables are in moor?

Letters4: M-O-O-R
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing2.2 times per million words; the 18,297th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in 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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is moor?

Moor appears 2.2 times per million words in written English, the 18,297th 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 moor?

  • /mʊə/
  • /mɔː/
  • British /moː/

Moor 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)-I_learned_some_phrases-moor.wav, En-us-moor.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-Moor.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with moor

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

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with moor?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as moor from its last stressed vowel (/ɔ/, British pronunciation):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: room.

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 moor

  • moors plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • mooring participle, present
  • moored participle, past

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

What does moor mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    An extensive waste covered with patches of heath, and having a poor, light (and usually acidic) soil, but sometimes marshy, and abounding in peat; a heath. (Compare bog, peatland, marsh, swamp, fen.)

    A cold, biting wind blew across the moor, and the travellers hastened their step.

  2. 2

    A game preserve consisting of moorland.

verb

  1. 1

    To cast anchor or become fastened.

    The vessel moored in the stream.

  2. 2

    To fix or secure (e.g. a vessel) in a particular place by casting anchor, or by fastening with ropes, cables or chains or the like.

    They moored the boat to the wharf.

  3. 3

    To secure or fix firmly.

noun

as Moor
  1. 1

    A member of an ancient Amazigh people from Mauretania.

  2. 2

    A member of an Islamic people of Arab or Amazigh origin ruling Spain and parts of North Africa from the 8th to the 15th centuries.

  3. 3

    archaicA Muslim or a person from the Middle East or Africa.

  4. 4

    datedA person of mixed Arab and Amazigh ancestry inhabiting the Mediterranean coastline of northwest Africa.

  5. 5

    A person of an ethnic group speaking the Hassaniya Arabic language, mainly inhabiting Western Sahara, Mauritania, and parts of neighbouring countries (Morocco, Mali, Senegal etc.).

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

Moor in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchlande (region with poor, marshy soil, peat and heath), mouiller, amarrer, ancrer (to cast anchor or become fastened), Maure (a member of a certain mixed ethnicity of Arab…)
GermanHochmoor (region with poor, marshy soil, peat and heath), anlegen, ankern (to cast anchor or become fastened), Maure (a member of a certain mixed ethnicity of Arab…), vertäuen (to fix or secure, as a vessel, in a particular…), festmachen (to secure or fix firmly)
Portuguesecharneca (region with poor, marshy soil, peat and heath), ancorar, atracar (to cast anchor or become fastened), mouro, moiro (a member of a certain mixed ethnicity of Arab…)
Spanishbrezal, pantano, turbera (region with poor, marshy soil, peat and heath), anclar (to cast anchor or become fastened), amarrar (to fix or secure, as a vessel, in a particular…), atar (to secure or fix firmly)

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 moor come from?

From Middle English mor, from Old English mōr, from Proto-West Germanic *mōr, from Proto-Germanic *mōraz, from Proto-Indo-European *móri. Cognates include Welsh môr, Old Irish muir (from Proto-Celtic *mori); Scots muir, Dutch moer, Old Saxon mōr, Old Saxon mūr, German Moor and perhaps also Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐍂𐌴𐌹 (marei). See mere.

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

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