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plunder

plund·er/ˈplʌndɚ/verb, noun

plunder is spelled P-L-U-N-D-E-R: 7 letters and 2 syllables (plund·er). It appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 25,367th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, plunder means “To pillage, take or destroy all the goods of, by force (as in war); to raid, sack” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in plunder?

Letters7: P-L-U-N-D-E-R
Syllables2: plund·er
In writing1.3 times per million words; the 25,367th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is plunder?

Plunder appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 25,367th 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 plunder?

  • UK /ˈplʌndə/
  • US /ˈplʌndɚ/
  • US /ˈplɜn-/

Plunder has 2 syllables, split plund·er in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-plunder-1.wav, En-us-plunder.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with plunder?

3 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as plunder from its last stressed vowel (/ʌndəɹ/):

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 plunder

  • plunders present, singular, he/she/it
  • plundering participle, present
  • plundered participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does plunder mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To pillage, take or destroy all the goods of, by force (as in war); to raid, sack.

    The mercenaries plundered the small town.

  2. 2

    To take (goods) by pillage.

    The mercenaries plundered all the goods they found.

  3. 3

    To take by force or wrongfully; to commit robbery or looting, to raid.

    “Now to plunder, mateys!” screamed a buccaneer, to cries of “Arrgh!” and “Aye!” all around.

  4. 4

    To make extensive (over)use of, as if by plundering; to use or use up wrongfully.

    The miners plundered the jungle for its diamonds till it became a muddy waste.

  5. 5

    To take unexpectedly.

  6. 6

    To amass ill-gotten wealth (by public officials) through a combination or series of overt criminal acts.

noun

  1. 1

    An instance of plundering.

  2. 2

    The loot attained by plundering.

    The Hessian kept his choicest plunder in a sack that never left his person, for fear that his comrades would steal it.

  3. 3

    datedslangBaggage; luggage.

  4. 4

    The commission of plunder (verb definition 6).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Plunder in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchpiller (1. to take all the goods of, by force (as in…), pillage (instance of plundering), butin (loot attained by plundering)
Germanausplündern, plündern (1. to take all the goods of, by force (as in…), Plünderung (instance of plundering), Beute, Raubgut (loot attained by plundering), ausbeuten (4. to use or use up wrongfully)
Portuguesesaquear, pilhar, bundar (1. to take all the goods of, by force (as in…), saque, pilhagem (instance of plundering), butim (loot attained by plundering)
Spanishdesvalijar, predar, prear (1. to take all the goods of, by force (as in…)

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 plunder come from?

Recorded since 1632 during the Thirty Years War, native British use since the Cromwellian Civil War. Borrowed from German plündern (“to loot”), from Middle High German, from Middle Low German plunderen, from a noun originally meaning "household goods, bedding, clothing," of obscure ultimate origin. This is first attested in medieval records, and according to Gijsseling, is therefore attested too late to be considered a substrate word.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after plunder