our
/ˈaʊə(ɹ)/determiner
our is spelled O-U-R: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 1,380 times per million words in written English, the 78th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “are vs our” about 1,000 times a month (Google, United States). As a determiner, our means “Belonging to us, excluding the person(s) being addressed (exclusive our)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in our?
| Letters | 3: O-U-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | 1,380 times per million words; the 78th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is our?
Our appears 1,380 times per million words in written English, the 78th 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 our?
- /ˈaʊə(ɹ)/
- /ɑː(ɹ)/
- /ˈwɔː/
Our has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-our.ogg, En-us-our-2.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with our
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: hour (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Also written: are.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with our?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as our.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: uro.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of our
- wor
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does our mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
determiner
- 1
Belonging to us, excluding the person(s) being addressed (exclusive our).
Sorry, you're not invited to our party.
- 2
Belonging to us, including the person(s) being addressed (inclusive our).
We must try to save our marriage for the sake of our children.
- 3
Of, from, or belonging to any entity that the speaker is a part of or identifies with, such as place of employment or education, nation, region, language, etc.
Our safety record at ABC Widgets is very good.
- 4
Belonging to people in general.
As we get older, our reactions get slower.
- 5
colloquialBelonging to everyone being addressed.
How are we all tonight? Have we got our happy faces on?
- 6
colloquialBelonging to an individual being addressed; used especially of a person in the speaker's care, or to whom advice or instruction is being given.
How are we feeling this morning, Mrs Miggins? Have we taken our tablets yet?
- 7
colloquialBelonging to a third person, especially someone in the speaker's care.
"I've just been to see Mrs Miggins." – "And how is she?" – "Not too good today. We've had a little problem with our tummy."
- 8
colloquialUsed to imply connection between the speaker's experiences or activities and a group of listeners.
Hey guys, in this video I'll show you how I make my upside-down sponge cake. First, let's get our ingredients weighed out.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate our?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of our: r.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Our in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense belonging to us:
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.
Where does our come from?
From Middle English oure, from Old English ūre, ūser (“our”), from Proto-Germanic *unseraz (“of us, our”), from Proto-Indo-European *n̥-s-ero- (“our”). Cognate with Scots oor (“our”), West Frisian ús (“our”), Low German uns (“our”), Dutch onze (“our”), German unser, unsere (“our”) Danish vor (“our”), Norwegian vår (“our”), and more distantly Latin noster.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).