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open

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

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Letters

4 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "open", 4-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "open" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "open" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

open is anEnglishadj. It means: Physically unobstructed, uncovered, etc. Pronounced /ˈəʊ.pən/. It ranks #314 in English word frequency. Often confused with own and owe.

Key facts for open
PropertyValue
Headwordopen
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdj
IPA/ˈəʊ.pən/
Letters4
Frequency rank#314
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of open in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for open is 4 letters long, classified as anadj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈəʊ.pən/. Corpus data places it at rank #314 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 39 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 5 documented wrong-spelling variants for open, with forms such as "oepn", "openn", and "opne". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "own", "owe", "ore", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: Adjective from Middle English open, from Old English open (“open”), from Proto-West Germanic *opan, from Proto-Germanic *upanaz (“open”), from Proto-Indo-European *upo (“up from under, over”). Cognates * Scots apen (“open”) * Saterland Frisian eepen (“open”… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is open, spelled O-P-E-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Physically unobstructed, uncovered, etc.
  2. 2
    Physically unobstructed, uncovered, etc.
  3. 3
    Physically unobstructed, uncovered, etc.
  4. 4
    Physically unobstructed, uncovered, etc.
  5. 5
    Physically unobstructed, uncovered, etc.
  6. 6
    Physically unobstructed, uncovered, etc.
  7. 7
    Physically unobstructed, uncovered, etc.
  8. 8
    Physically unobstructed, uncovered, etc.
  9. 9
    Physically unobstructed, uncovered, etc.
  10. 10
    Able to be used or interacted with in some way.
  11. 11
    Able to be used or interacted with in some way.
  12. 12
    Able to be used or interacted with in some way.
  13. 13
    Able to be used or interacted with in some way.
  14. 14
    Able to be used or interacted with in some way.
  15. 15
    Able to be used or interacted with in some way.
  16. 16
    Able to be used or interacted with in some way.
  17. 17
    Not hidden or restricted.
  18. 18
    Not hidden or restricted.
  19. 19
    Not hidden or restricted.
  20. 20
    Not hidden or restricted.
  21. 21
    Not hidden or restricted.
  22. 22
    Not hidden or restricted.
  23. 23
    Not hidden or restricted.
  24. 24
    Not hidden or restricted.
  25. 25
    Not completed or finalised.
  26. 26
    Not completed or finalised.
  27. 27
    Not completed or finalised.
  28. 28
    Not completed or finalised.
  29. 29
    Not completed or finalised.
  30. 30
    Not completed or finalised.
  31. 31
    Having a free variable.
  32. 32
    Which is part of a predefined collection of subsets of X, that defines a topological space on X.
  33. 33
    Of a note, played without pressing the string against the fingerboard.
  34. 34
    Of a note, played without closing any finger-hole, key or valve.
  35. 35
    Uttered with a relatively wide opening of the articulating organs; said of vowels.
  36. 36
    Uttered, as a consonant, with the oral passage simply narrowed without closure.
  37. 37
    Source code of a computer program that is not within the text of a macro being generated.
  38. 38
    Having component words separated by spaces, as opposed to being joined together or hyphenated; for example, time slot as opposed to timeslot or time-slot.
  39. 39
    Of a club, bat or other hitting implement, angled upwards and/or (for a right-hander) clockwise of straight.

Etymology

Adjective from Middle English open, from Old English open (“open”), from Proto-West Germanic *opan, from Proto-Germanic *upanaz (“open”), from Proto-Indo-European *upo (“up from under, over”). Cognates * Scots apen (“open”) * Saterland Frisian eepen (“open”) * West Frisian iepen (“open”) * Cimbrian offe (“open”) * Dutch open (“open”) * German offen (“open”) * Vilamovian ufa, uffa (“open”) * Yiddish אָפֿן (ofn, “open”) * Danish åben (“open”) * Icelandic opinn (“open”) * Norwegian Bokmål åpen (“open”) * Norwegian Nynorsk open (“open”) * Swedish öppen (“open”) Compare also Latin supinus (“on one's back, supine”), Albanian hap (“to open”). Related to up. Verb from Middle English openen, from Old English openian (“to open”), from Proto-West Germanic *opanōn, from Proto-Germanic *upanōną (“to raise; lift; open”), from Proto-Germanic *upanaz (“open”, adjective). Cognate with Saterland Frisian eepenje (“to open”), West Frisian iepenje (“to open”), Dutch openen (“to open”), German öffnen (“to open”), Danish åbne (“to open”), Swedish öppna (“to open”), Norwegian Bokmål åpne (“to open”), Norwegian Nynorsk and Icelandic opna (“to open”). Related to English up. Noun from Middle English open (“an aperture or opening”), from the verb. In the sports sense, however, a shortening of “open competition”.

Synonyms

accessibleunimpededfreefree

Antonyms

closedshutwithout prejudiceclosedcheckedclosed-sourceproprietary

This word in other languages

Spanish(Español)Portuguese(Português)French(Français)German(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: oepn,openn,opne,oppen,poen

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for open

Misspelling Variants of "open"

oepn4openn5opne4oppen5poen4
Misspelling Variants of "open"

Frequency rank: #314 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "open"?
"open" is spelled O-P-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈəʊ.pən/.
What does "open" mean?
As an adj, "open" means: Physically unobstructed, uncovered, etc.
What words are commonly confused with "open"?
"open" is commonly confused with "own", "owe", "ore". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "open"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "open" is /ˈəʊ.pən/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "open"?
Adjective from Middle English open, from Old English open (“open”), from Proto-West Germanic *opan, from Proto-Germanic *upanaz (“open”), from Proto-Indo-European *upo (“up from under, over”). Cognates * Scots apen (“open”) * Saterland Frisian eep... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter O in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.