ooze
/uːz/noun, verb
ooze is spelled O-O-Z-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 36,998th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, ooze means “Tanning liquor, an aqueous extract of vegetable matter (tanbark, sumac, etc.) in a tanning vat used to tan leather” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of ooze is oozes.
How many letters and syllables are in ooze?
| Letters | 4: O-O-Z-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 36,998th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is ooze?
Ooze appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 36,998th 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 ooze?
- /uːz/
- /ʉːz/
Ooze has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-ooze.ogg, En-au-ooze.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of ooze
- oozes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- oozing participle, present
- oozed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does ooze mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Tanning liquor, an aqueous extract of vegetable matter (tanbark, sumac, etc.) in a tanning vat used to tan leather.
- 2
An oozing, gentle flowing, or seepage, as of water through sand or earth.
- 3
obsoleteSecretion, humour.
- 4
obsoleteJuice, sap.
- 5
Soft mud, slime, or shells especially in the bed of a river or estuary.
- 6
A pelagic marine sediment containing a significant amount of the microscopic remains of either calcareous or siliceous planktonic debris organisms.
- 7
A piece of soft, wet, pliable ground.
verb
- 1
To be secreted or slowly leak.
- 2
To give off a strong sense of (something); to exude.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Ooze in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | liqueur de tannage , suinter, sécréter |
| German | Gerbbrühe , sickern, durchsickern, triefen |
| Portuguese | licor de curtimenta , escoar, verter, excretar, segregar |
| Spanish | licor de curtido , rezumar, trazumar , rezumadero |
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.