perk up

verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"perk-up" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“perk up” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
7
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To become more upright

Key facts for perk up
PropertyValue
Headwordperk up
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters7
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “perk up” sits in English frequency

perk up falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

perk up is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for perk up in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct English form is perk up, spelled P-E-R-K- -U-P.

Definition

  1. 1
    To become more upright
  2. 2
    To become more lively or enthusiastic.
  3. 3
    To cause to be more upright, straighten up.
  4. 4
    to cause to be more lively or enthusiastic.
  5. 5
    To exalt oneself, take on a higher status or position.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "perk up"?
"perk up" is spelled P-E-R-K- -U-P.
What does "perk up" mean?
As a verb, "perk up" means: To become more upright
What language does "perk up" come from?
"perk up" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

Using “perk up”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is P-E-R-K- -U-P - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list