oud
/uːd/
"oud" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“oud” is uncommon English (frequency #56,955 among 1,431 “O” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #56,955
- frequency rank, English
- 1,431
- “O” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A short-necked and fretless plucked stringed instrument of the lute family, of Arab and Turkish origin.
Corpus desk
Index EN-oud · oud · English
oud · rank #56,955 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #56,955
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,431
- PHOTO-FINISH Oroville
Nearest frequency peer: Oroville (-2 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “oud”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Orlov
Orlov
43,051 corpus weight
- Orly
Orly
43,050 corpus weight
- Orme
Orme
43,049 corpus weight
- Oroville
Oroville
43,048 corpus weight
- oud
oud
43,046 corpus weight
- overdosing
overdosing
43,044 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “oud” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | oud |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /uːd/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #56,955 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “oud” in English
Rare enough to double-check
oud is uncommon English at frequency #56,955 among 1,431 “O” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /uːd/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for oud in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Arabic عُود (ʕūd). Doublet of lute. The correct English form is oud, spelled O-U-D.
Definition
- 1A short-necked and fretless plucked stringed instrument of the lute family, of Arab and Turkish origin.
- 2Agarwood, in particular the noble rot of Aquilaria trees used to make perfumes.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how oud appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Oriental music is chiefly unrhythmical [...]. It is mostly rendered by a solo voice with accompaniment of the Ud, a kind of lyre or mandolin, or Kanun, resembling a guitar.
Common throughout the Arab and Persian world, the oud is a fretless short-neck lute with a pear-shaped, flat top, rounded back, and a peghead characteristically bent backwards at a very sharp angle. The oud's origins are unknown, although myths attribute either celestial or magical beginnings, it more likely came from ancient Persia.
Etymology
From Arabic عُود (ʕūd). Doublet of lute.
This word in other languages
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.
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "oud", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).