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music

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

5 characters

Language

English

word origin

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "music", 5-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "music" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "music" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

music is aEnglishnoun. It means: A series of sounds organized in time, usually employing some combination of harmony, melody, rhythm, tempo, etc., often to convey a mood. Pronounced /ˈmjuːzɪk/. It ranks #279 in English word frequency. Often confused with must and musk.

Key facts for music
PropertyValue
Headwordmusic
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈmjuːzɪk/
Letters5
Frequency rank#279
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of music in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for music is 5 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈmjuːzɪk/. Corpus data places it at rank #279 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 7 documented wrong-spelling variants for music, with forms such as "mmusic", "msuic", and "muisc". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "must", "musk", "musty", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English musik, musike, borrowed from Anglo-Norman musik, musike, Old French musique, and their source Latin mūsica, from Ancient Greek μουσική (mousikḗ), from Ancient Greek Μοῦσα (Moûsa, “Muse”), an Ancient Greek deity of the arts. By surface an… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is music, spelled M-U-S-I-C, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    A series of sounds organized in time, usually employing some combination of harmony, melody, rhythm, tempo, etc., often to convey a mood.
  2. 2
    Any interesting or pleasing sounds.
  3. 3
    An art form, created by organizing pitch, rhythm, and sounds made using musical instruments and/or singing.
  4. 4
    A guide to playing or singing a particular tune; sheet music.
  5. 5
    Electronic signal jamming.
  6. 6
    Heated argument.
  7. 7
    Fun; amusement.

Etymology

From Middle English musik, musike, borrowed from Anglo-Norman musik, musike, Old French musique, and their source Latin mūsica, from Ancient Greek μουσική (mousikḗ), from Ancient Greek Μοῦσα (Moûsa, “Muse”), an Ancient Greek deity of the arts. By surface analysis, muse + -ic (“pertaining to”). In this sense, displaced native Old English drēam (“music”), whence Modern English dream.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: mmusic,msuic,muisc,musci,musicc,mussic,umsic

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for music

Misspelling Variants of "music"

mmusic6msuic5muisc5musci5musicc6mussic6umsic5
Misspelling Variants of "music"

Frequency rank: #279 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "music"?
"music" is spelled M-U-S-I-C. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈmjuːzɪk/.
What does "music" mean?
As a noun, "music" means: A series of sounds organized in time, usually employing some combination of harmony, melody, rhythm, tempo, etc., often to convey a mood.
What words are commonly confused with "music"?
"music" is commonly confused with "must", "musk", "musty". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "music"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "music" is /ˈmjuːzɪk/. 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 "music"?
From Middle English musik, musike, borrowed from Anglo-Norman musik, musike, Old French musique, and their source Latin mūsica, from Ancient Greek μουσική (mousikḗ), from Ancient Greek Μοῦσα (Moûsa, “Muse”), an Ancient Greek deity of the arts. By ... 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.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter M in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.