nourish
/ˈnʌɹ.ɪʃ/
"nourish" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“nourish” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #32,942 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #32,942
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A nurse.
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 | nourish |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈnʌɹ.ɪʃ/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #32,942 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “nourish” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for nourish is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈnʌɹ.ɪʃ/. Corpus data places it at rank #32,942 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A nurse.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for nourish, with forms such as "nnourish", "noruish", and "nouirsh". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "Norris", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English norischen, from Old French nouriss-, stem of one of the conjugated forms of norrir, from Latin nutriō (“to suckle, feed, foster, nourish, cherish, preserve, support”). The correct English form is nourish, spelled N-O-U-R-I-S-H.
Definition
- 1A nurse.
Etymology
From Middle English norischen, from Old French nouriss-, stem of one of the conjugated forms of norrir, from Latin nutriō (“to suckle, feed, foster, nourish, cherish, preserve, support”).
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: nnourish,noruish,nouirsh,nourihs,nourishh,nourissh,nourrish,noursih,nuorish,onurish
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of nourish - 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 "nourish"?
What does "nourish" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "nourish"?
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Using “nourish”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is N-O-U-R-I-S-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈnʌɹ.ɪʃ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Norris” - see the side-by-side comparison. nourish vs Norris
- 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.