nick
/nɪk/
"nick" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“nick” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #2,547 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #2,547
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A small cut in a surface.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | nick |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /nɪk/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #2,547 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “nick” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for nick is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /nɪk/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,547 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for nick, with forms such as "inck", "ncik", and "nicck". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "NYC", "NIH", "nil", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: The noun is derived from Late Middle English nik (“notch, tally; nock of an arrow”). Its further etymology is unknown; a connection with nock (“notch in a bow to hold the bowstring; notch at the rear of an arrow that fits the bowstring; cleft in the buttock… The correct English form is nick, spelled N-I-C-K.
Definition
- 1A small cut in a surface.
- 2A small cut in a surface.
- 3Senses connoting something small.
- 4Senses connoting something small.
- 5Senses connoting something small.
- 6Often in the expressions in bad nick and in good nick: condition, state.
- 7A police station or prison.
Etymology
The noun is derived from Late Middle English nik (“notch, tally; nock of an arrow”). Its further etymology is unknown; a connection with nock (“notch in a bow to hold the bowstring; notch at the rear of an arrow that fits the bowstring; cleft in the buttocks”) has not been clearly established. The verb appears to be derived from the noun, though the available evidence shows that some of the verb senses predate the noun senses. No connection with words in Germanic languages such as Danish nikke (“to nod”), Middle Dutch nicken (“to bend; to bow”) (modern Dutch knikken (“to nod”)), Middle Low German nicken (“to bend over; to sink”), Middle High German nicken (“to bend; to depress”) (modern German nicken (“to nod”)), Middle Low German knicken (“to bend; to snap”) (modern German knicken (“to bend; to break”), Old Frisian hnekka (“to nod”), and Swedish nicka (“to nod”), has been clearly established.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: inck,ncik,nicck,nickk,nikc,nnick
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of nick - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "nick"?
What does "nick" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "nick"?
How do you pronounce "nick"?
What is the origin of the word "nick"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “nick”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is N-I-C-K - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /nɪk/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “NYC” - see the side-by-side comparison. nick vs NYC
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.