roll
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
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4 characters
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English
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "roll", 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 "roll" 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 "roll" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
roll is aEnglishverb. It means: To revolve by turning over and over; to move by turning on a horizontal axis; to impel forward with a revolving motion on a supporting surface. Pronounced /ɹəʊl/. It ranks #1,838 in English word frequency. Often confused with row and Roy.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | roll |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ɹəʊl/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #1,838 |
| Misspellings tracked | 4 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for roll is 4 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɹəʊl/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,838 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 35 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 4 documented wrong-spelling variants for roll, with forms such as "orll", "rlol", and "rol". 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: From Middle English rollen, partly from Old French roller, roler, röeler, röoler, from Medieval Latin rotulāre (“to roll; to revolve”), from Latin rotula (“a little wheel”), diminutive of rota (“a wheel”); partly from Anglo-Latin rollāre, from the same ulti… 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 roll, spelled R-O-L-L, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1To revolve by turning over and over; to move by turning on a horizontal axis; to impel forward with a revolving motion on a supporting surface.
- 2To wrap (something) round on itself; to form into a spherical or cylindrical body by causing to turn over and over.
- 3To bind or involve by winding, as with a bandage; to enwrap; often with up.
- 4To drive, impel, or flow onward with a steady, wave-like motion.
- 5To utter copiously, especially with sounding words; to utter with a deep sound; — often with forth, or out.
- 6To press, level, spread, or form with a roller or rollers.
- 7To move upon rollers or wheels.
- 8To tumble in gymnastics; to do a somersault.
- 9To leave or begin a journey; sometimes with out.
- 10To leave or begin a journey; sometimes with out.
- 11To leave or begin a journey; sometimes with out.
- 12To beat with rapid, continuous strokes, as a drum; to sound a roll upon.
- 13To apply (one line or surface) to another without slipping; to bring all the parts of (one line or surface) into successive contact with another, in such a manner that at every instant the parts that have been in contact are equal.
- 14To turn over in one's mind, as of deep thoughts; to (cause to) be considered thoroughly.
- 15To behave in a certain way; to adopt a general disposition toward a situation.
- 16To throw dice.
- 17To throw dice.
- 18To throw dice.
- 19To perform an operation similar to a bit shift, but with the bit that "falls off the end" being wrapped around to the other end.
- 20To rotate about the fore-and-aft axis, causing its sides to go up and down. Compare pitch, yaw.
- 21To rotate about the fore-and-aft axis, causing its sides to go up and down. Compare pitch, yaw.
- 22To beat up; to assault.
- 23To (cause to) betray secrets or testify for the prosecution.
- 24To be under the influence of MDMA (a psychedelic stimulant, also known as ecstasy).
- 25To (cause to) film.
- 26To slip past (a defender) with the ball.
- 27To have a rolling aspect.
- 28To make a loud or heavy rumbling noise.
- 29To utter with an alveolar trill.
- 30To enrobe in toilet-paper (as a prank or spectacle).
- 31To create a customized version of.
- 32To engage in sparring in the context of jujitsu or other grappling disciplines.
- 33To load ocean freight cargo onto a vessel other than the one it was meant to sail on.
- 34To briskly arpeggiate (a chord), typically in an upward motion.
- 35To drum on the reverse of a game controller with one's fingers in rapid succession, pushing the controller face into the opposite hand such that a button is rapidly pressed and depressed.
Etymology
From Middle English rollen, partly from Old French roller, roler, röeler, röoler, from Medieval Latin rotulāre (“to roll; to revolve”), from Latin rotula (“a little wheel”), diminutive of rota (“a wheel”); partly from Anglo-Latin rollāre, from the same ultimate source. Displaced native English welt.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: orll,rlol,rol,rroll
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for roll
Misspelling Variants of "roll"
Frequency rank: #1,838 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter R in our English index: