murrain
/ˈmʌɹ(ɪ)n/
"murrain" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“murrain” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Infectious disease; pestilence, plague; (countable) sometimes used in curses such as a murrain on someone: an outbreak of such a disease; a plague.
Corpus desk
Index EN-murrain · murrain · English
murrain · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "M" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | murrain |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈmʌɹ(ɪ)n/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “murrain” in English
Rare enough to double-check
murrain is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈmʌɹ(ɪ)n/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 7 senses are on record.
murrain doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: The noun is derived from Late Middle English morein, morine, moreyn (“(widespread) death; widespread sickness, plague; fatal disease; carnage; carrion”), from Anglo-Norman morine, mourine, moreyn (“death; widespread sickness, plague; carrion; cattle disease… The correct English form is murrain, spelled M-U-R-R-A-I-N.
Definition
- 1Infectious disease; pestilence, plague; (countable) sometimes used in curses such as a murrain on someone: an outbreak of such a disease; a plague.
- 2A widespread affliction, calamity, or destructive influx, especially when seen as divine retribution; a plague.
- 3Any of several highly infectious diseases of cattle or other livestock, such as anthrax, babesiosis, or rinderpest; or a particular epizootic thereof; also, an infectious disease affecting other animals, such as poultry.
- 4An infectious disease affecting plants.
- 5A poor-quality green-salted animal hide.
- 6Death, especially from an infectious disease.
- 7Rotting flesh, especially of an animal which has died from a disease; carrion.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how murrain appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
How a murryen came this chaunce, (ſay Tib) vnto our dame?
For heuen it ſelfe ſhall their ſucceſſe enuy, / And them vvith plagues and murrins peſtilent / Conſume, till all their vvarlike puiſſaunce be ſpent.
Etymology
The noun is derived from Late Middle English morein, morine, moreyn (“(widespread) death; widespread sickness, plague; fatal disease; carnage; carrion”), from Anglo-Norman morine, mourine, moreyn (“death; widespread sickness, plague; carrion; cattle disease”), Middle French morine, and Old French morine, mourine, murine (“widespread sickness, plague; animal which has died from a disease”), from Late Latin morina (“plague”), probably from Latin morior (“to die; to decay, wither”). The adjective and adverb are derived from the noun. Cognates * Italian morìa (“plague”) * Latin morticīnus (“that has died naturally, dead; (relational) carrion”) (Medieval Latin morticinium) * Occitan moria (“death; plague”) * Old French morie (“death”) mourie (“flesh of animals that have died of disease”) (Middle French murie) * Portuguese morrinha (“cattle plague”) * Spanish morriña (“cattle plague”)
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.