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PlainSpell

neck

/ˈnɛk/noun, verb

neck is spelled N-E-C-K: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 43 times per million words in written English, the 2,339th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, neck means “The part of the body connecting the head and the trunk found in humans and some animals” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of neck is necks.

How many letters and syllables are in neck?

Letters4: N-E-C-K
Syllables1
In writing43 times per million words; the 2,339th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is neck?

Neck appears 43 times per million words in written English, the 2,339th 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 neck?

  • /ˈnɛk/
  • [ˈnɛk]

Neck has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-neck.wav, En-us-neck.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Back_ache-neck.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of neck

  • necks plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • necking participle, present
  • necked participle, past

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

What does neck mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    The part of the body connecting the head and the trunk found in humans and some animals.

    Giraffes have long necks.

  2. 2

    The corresponding part in some other anatomical contexts.

  3. 3

    The part of a shirt, dress etc., which fits a person's neck.

  4. 4

    The tapered part of a bottle toward the opening.

  5. 5

    The slender tubelike extension atop an archegonium, through which the sperm swim to reach the egg.

  6. 6

    The extension of any stringed instrument on which a fingerboard is mounted

  7. 7

    A long narrow tract of land projecting from the main body, or a narrow tract connecting two larger tracts.

  8. 8

    A reduction in size near the end of an object, formed by a groove around it.

    a neck forming the journal of a shaft

  9. 9

    A shapeshifting water spirit in Germanic mythology and folklore; a nix.

verb

  1. 1

    slangTo hang by the neck; strangle; kill, eliminate.

    Go neck yourself.

  2. 2

    USinformalTo intently kiss or cuddle; to canoodle.

    Alan and Betty were necking in the back of a car when Betty's dad caught them.

  3. 3

    slangTo drink or swallow rapidly.

  4. 4

    To decrease in diameter.

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

How do you abbreviate neck?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of neck: nk..

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

Neck in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchcou, nuque (part of body connecting the head and the trunk), col (part of a shirt, dress etc), goulot (tapered part of a bottle), manche (extension of stringed instrument)
GermanHals, Nacken, Genick (part of body connecting the head and the trunk), Kragen (part of a shirt, dress etc), Flaschenhals (tapered part of a bottle), hängen (hang by the neck; strangle; kill)
Portuguesepescoço (part of body connecting the head and the trunk), gola (part of a shirt, dress etc), gargalo (tapered part of a bottle), braço (extension of stringed instrument), esganar, estrangular (hang by the neck; strangle; kill)
Spanishcuello, pescuezo (part of body connecting the head and the trunk), gollete (tapered part of a bottle), apercollar, apergollar (hang by the neck; strangle; kill)

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 neck come from?

From Middle English nekke, nakke, from Old English hnecca, *hnæcca (“neck, nape”), from Proto-West Germanic *hnakkō, from Proto-Germanic *hnakkô (“nape, neck”), from Proto-Indo-European *knog-, *kneg- (“back of the head, nape, neck”).

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

What to look up after neck