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PlainSpell

purse

/pɚs/noun, verb

purse is spelled P-U-R-S-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 8.9 times per million words in written English, the 7,672nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, purse means “A small bag for carrying money” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of purse is purses.

How many letters and syllables are in purse?

Letters5: P-U-R-S-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing8.9 times per million words; the 7,672nd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Sounds like
Rhymes with
Same letters

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

How common is purse?

Purse appears 8.9 times per million words in written English, the 7,672nd 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 purse?

  • UK /pɜːs/
  • British /pəːs/
  • US /pɚs/

Purse 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-purse.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with purse

Sounds like: perse (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with purse?

One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as purse from its last stressed vowel (/əɹs/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: super, sprue.

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 purse

  • purses plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • pursing participle, present
  • pursed participle, past

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

What does purse mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A small bag for carrying money.

  2. 2

    USA handbag (small bag usually used by women for carrying various small personal items)

  3. 3

    A quantity of money given for a particular purpose.

  4. 4

    A specific sum of money in certain countries: formerly 500 piastres in Turkey or 50 tomans in Persia.

verb

  1. 1

    To press (one's lips) in and together so that they protrude.

  2. 2

    To draw up or contract into folds or wrinkles; to pucker; to knit.

  3. 3

    To put into a purse.

  4. 4

    obsoleterareTo steal purses; to rob.

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

Purse in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchbourse, portemonnaie, portefeuille (small bag for carrying money), sac à main (small bag for carrying personal items), pincer les lèvres (to press (the lips) together), froncer (to pucker)
GermanGeldbörse, Geldbeutel, Börse, Beutel, Portemonnaie (small bag for carrying money), Handtasche (small bag for carrying personal items)
Portuguesemoedeiro (small bag for carrying money), bolsa (small bag for carrying personal items), fundo (quantity of money)
Spanishbolsa, monedero, cigarra (small bag for carrying money), bolso, bulto (small bag for carrying personal items), fruncir (to press (the lips) together)

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 purse come from?

From Middle English purs, from Old English purs (“purse”), partly from pusa (“wallet, bag, scrip”) and partly from burse (“pouch, bag”). Old English pusa comes from Proto-West Germanic *pusō, from Proto-Germanic *pusô (“bag, sack, scrip”), and is cognate with Old High German pfoso (“pouch, purse”), Low German pūse (“purse, bag”), Old Norse posi (“purse, bag”), Danish pose (“purse, bag”). Old English burse comes from Medieval Latin bursa (“leather bag”) (compare English bursar), from Ancient Greek βύρσα (búrsa, “hide, wine-skin”).

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

What to look up after purse