rankle
/ˈɹæŋ.kəl/
"rankle" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“rankle” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To cause irritation, bitterness or acrimony.
Corpus desk
Index EN-rankle · rankle · English
rankle · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "R" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | rankle |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈɹæŋ.kəl/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “rankle” in English
Rare enough to double-check
rankle is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed /ˈɹæŋ.kəl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
rankle has no tracked misspelling variants, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English ranklen, ranclen, from Old French rancler, räoncler, draoncler (“to ulcerate, to form a boil”), from Old French draoncle (“a boil”), from Latin dracunculus (“little serpent”), diminutive of Latin dracō (“serpent, dragon”). The correct English form is rankle, spelled R-A-N-K-L-E.
Definition
- 1To cause irritation, bitterness or acrimony.
- 2To fester.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how rankle appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
My colleague's gratuitous criticism still rankles with me.
[…] and the alliance which was dictated by sound policy, by family ties, and by just fear of England's sea power, was further assured to France by recent and still existing injuries that must continue to rankle with Spain. […]
Etymology
From Middle English ranklen, ranclen, from Old French rancler, räoncler, draoncler (“to ulcerate, to form a boil”), from Old French draoncle (“a boil”), from Latin dracunculus (“little serpent”), diminutive of Latin dracō (“serpent, dragon”).
This word in other languages
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.