rock
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
4 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "rock", 4-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "rock" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "rock" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
rock is aEnglishnoun. It means: A formation of minerals, specifically: Pronounced /ɹɒk/. It ranks #1,002 in English word frequency. Often confused with row and Roy.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | rock |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɹɒk/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #1,002 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for rock is 4 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɹɒk/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,002 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 21 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 6 documented wrong-spelling variants for rock, with forms such as "orck", "rcok", and "rocck". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "row", "Roy", "Ron", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Inherited from Middle English rocke, rokke (“rock formation”), from Old English *rocc (“rock”), as in Old English stānrocc (“high stone rock, peak, obelisk”), and also later from Anglo-Norman roque, (compare Modern French roc, roche, rocher), from Medieval … Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is rock, spelled R-O-C-K, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A formation of minerals, specifically:
- 2A formation of minerals, specifically:
- 3A formation of minerals, specifically:
- 4A formation of minerals, specifically:
- 5A formation of minerals, specifically:
- 6A large hill or island having no vegetation.
- 7Something that is strong, stable, and dependable; a person who provides security or support to another.
- 8A lump or cube of ice.
- 9A type of confectionery made from sugar in the shape of a stick, traditionally having some text running through its length.
- 10A crystallized lump of crack cocaine.
- 11An unintelligent person, especially one who repeats mistakes.
- 12An Afrikaner.
- 13An extremely conservative player who is willing to play only the very strongest hands.
- 14Any of several fish:
- 15Any of several fish:
- 16A basketball.
- 17A mistake.
- 18Synonym of stone.
- 19A closed hand (a handshape resembling a rock), that beats scissors and loses to paper. It beats lizard and loses to Spock in rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock.
- 20A cricket ball, especially a new one that has not been softened by use
- 21A crystal used to control the radio frequency.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English rocke, rokke (“rock formation”), from Old English *rocc (“rock”), as in Old English stānrocc (“high stone rock, peak, obelisk”), and also later from Anglo-Norman roque, (compare Modern French roc, roche, rocher), from Medieval Latin rocca (attested 767), of uncertain origin, sometimes said to be of Celtic (in particular, perhaps Gaulish) origin (compare Breton roc'h). Related also to Middle Low German rocke (“rock ledge”). One suggestion is that it derives from Vulgar Latin *rupica, from rupes (compare rupico).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: orck,rcok,rocck,rockk,rokc,rrock
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for rock
Misspelling Variants of "rock"
Frequency rank: #1,002 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter R in our English index: