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puke

/pjuːk/noun, verb

puke is spelled P-U-K-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.9 times per million words in written English, the 20,101st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, puke means “vomit” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of puke is pukes.

How many letters and syllables are in puke?

Letters4: P-U-K-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing1.9 times per million words; the 20,101st most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is puke?

Puke appears 1.9 times per million words in written English, the 20,101st 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 puke?

  • /pjuːk/

Puke has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

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

Forms of puke

  • pukes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • puking participle, present
  • puked participle, past

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

What does puke mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    colloquialvomit.

  2. 2

    colloquialA drug that induces vomiting.

  3. 3

    colloquialA worthless, despicable person.

  4. 4

    USderogatoryslangA person from Missouri.

  5. 5

    A fine grade of woolen cloth.

  6. 6

    A very dark, dull, brownish-red color.

verb

  1. 1

    colloquialTo vomit; to throw up; to eject from the stomach.

    Unfortunately, he could not hold it long enough till the end of the ride, so he puked on the bus seat.

  2. 2

    slangTo sell securities or investments at a loss, often under duress or pressure, in order to satisfy liquidity or margin requirements, or out of a desire to exit a deteriorating market.

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

Puke in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchvomi (vomit), vomir, gerber, dégueuler, dégobiller, caller l'orignal (to vomit)
GermanKotze (vomit), kotzen, kübeln, speien, spucken, reihern (to vomit)
Portuguesevômito (vomit), vomitar (to vomit)
Spanishguácara, basca (vomit), devolver, potar (to vomit), vomitivo (drug), mierda (person)

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 puke come from?

Probably imitative; or, alternatively related to Proto-Germanic *pukaną (“to spit, puff”), from Proto-Indo-European *bew- (“to blow, swell”). If so, then related to German pfauchen, fauchen (“to hiss, spit”), Dutch spugen (“to spit, spit up”), German spucken (“to spit, puke, throw up”), and Old English spīwan (“to vomit, spit”). More at spew. Attested as early as 1581, first mention is the derivative pukishness (“the tendency to be sick frequently”). In 1600, "to spit up, regurgitate", recorded in the Seven Ages of Man speech in Shakespeare's As You Like It.

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

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