mourn
/mɔɹn/verb, noun
mourn is spelled M-O-U-R-N: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.7 times per million words in written English, the 16,455th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “morn vs mourn” about 40 times a month (Google, United States). As a verb, mourn means “To express sadness or sorrow for; to grieve over (especially a death)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in mourn?
| Letters | 5: M-O-U-R-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.7 times per million words; the 16,455th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people 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); 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 mourn?
Mourn appears 2.7 times per million words in written English, the 16,455th 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 mourn?
- US /mɔɹn/
- UK /mɔːn/
- /mo(ː)ɹn/
Mourn 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-mourn.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with mourn
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: morn, morne (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Also written: morne.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with mourn?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as mourn from its last stressed vowel (/ɔɹn/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: munro.
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 mourn
- mourns present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- mourning participle, present
- mourned participle, past
- morne
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does mourn mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To express sadness or sorrow for; to grieve over (especially a death).
For two months, she mourned her father's passing.
- 2
To engage in the social customs of mourning; to commemorate a death and/or honour the deceased socially.
In that society, a spouse is mourned for one year, a parent for six months.
- 3
To utter in a sorrowful manner.
- 4
To wear mourning.
noun
- 1
Sorrow, grief.
- 2
A ring fitted upon the head of a lance to prevent wounding an adversary in tilting.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Mourn in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense express sadness for, grieve over:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | déplorer, porter le deuil |
| German | trauern |
| Portuguese | lamentar, estar de luto |
| Spanish | lamentar, estar de luto, penarse, penar, enlutarse |
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 mourn come from?
From Middle English mornen, mournen, from Old English murnan, from Proto-Germanic *murnaną. Cognate with French morne (“gloomy”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).