morass

/məˈɹæs/

//məˈɹæs// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"morass" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“morass” is uncommon English (frequency #62,339 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#62,339
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A tract of soft, wet ground; a marsh; a fen.

Corpus desk

Index EN-morass · morass · English

morass · rank #62,339 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #62,339
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH morena

Nearest frequency peer: morena (+1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “morass”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “morass” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for morass
PropertyValue
Headwordmorass
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/məˈɹæs/
Letters6
Frequency rank#62,339
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “morass” in English

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).morassfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “morena” (#62,340), “Mozambican” (#62,341), “monolingual” (#62,336). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “morass” is #62,339. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

morass is uncommon English at frequency #62,339 among 4,057 “M” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /məˈɹæs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

morass has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Dutch moeras (“marsh, swamp”), an alteration (with influence from Dutch moer (“moor”)) of a direct descendant of Middle Dutch marasch (“marsh”). The Middle Dutch word is a borrowing from Old French mareis, from Proto-West Germanic *marisk. Doublet of m… The correct English form is morass, spelled M-O-R-A-S-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    A tract of soft, wet ground; a marsh; a fen.
  2. 2
    Anything that entraps or makes progress difficult.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how morass appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Seven miles to the north of Venice, the banks of sand, which near the city rise little above low-water mark, attain by degrees a higher level, and knit themselves at last into fields of salt morass, raised here and there into shapeless mounds, and intercepted by narrow creeks of sea.
  2. I wrote to Sacramento about that historical marker, and they've been kicking it around their bureaucratic morass for months.

Etymology

From Dutch moeras (“marsh, swamp”), an alteration (with influence from Dutch moer (“moor”)) of a direct descendant of Middle Dutch marasch (“marsh”). The Middle Dutch word is a borrowing from Old French mareis, from Proto-West Germanic *marisk. Doublet of marish and marsh, and linked in part to moor. Compare quagmire.

This word in other languages

pantano(Español)marais(Français)pântano(Português)

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 "morass"?
"morass" is spelled M-O-R-A-S-S. The IPA pronunciation is /məˈɹæs/.
What does "morass" mean?
As a noun, "morass" means: A tract of soft, wet ground; a marsh; a fen.
How do you pronounce "morass"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "morass" is /məˈɹæs/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "morass"?
From Dutch moeras (“marsh, swamp”), an alteration (with influence from Dutch moer (“moor”)) of a direct descendant of Middle Dutch marasch (“marsh”). The Middle Dutch word is a borrowing from Old French mareis, from Proto-West Germanic *marisk. Do... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "morass", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

morena#62,340minuet#62,325minter#62,324natick#62,355

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list