ook
/uːk/
"ook" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ook” is uncommon English (frequency #62,376 among 15,494 “O” headwords), classed as an interjection. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #62,376
- frequency rank, English
- 15,494
- “O” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Used to represent the sound of the cry of an ape or monkey.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ook |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Interjection |
| IPA | /uːk/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #62,376 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ook” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
ook is uncommon English at frequency #62,376 among 15,494 “O” headwords, classed as aninterjection, transcribed /uːk/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Used to represent the sound of the cry of an ape or monkey.".
ook doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Imitative of the cry of an ape or monkey. The correct English form is ook, spelled O-O-K.
Definition
- 1Used to represent the sound of the cry of an ape or monkey.
Etymology
Imitative of the cry of an ape or monkey.
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
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Using “ook”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is O-O-K - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /uːk/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.