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rome

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

4 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "rome", 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 "rome" 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 "rome" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

Rome is aEnglishname. It means: A major city, the capital of Italy and the Italian region of Lazio, located on the Tiber River; the ancient capital of the Roman Empire. Pronounced /ɹəʊm/. It ranks #3,332 in English word frequency. Often confused with row and Roy.

Key facts for Rome
PropertyValue
HeadwordRome
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechName
IPA/ɹəʊm/
Letters4
Frequency rank#3,332
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of Rome in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for Rome is 4 letters long, classified as aname, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɹəʊm/. Corpus data places it at rank #3,332 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 29 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 5 documented wrong-spelling variants for Rome, with forms such as "orme", "rmoe", and "roem". 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 Rome, from Old English Rōm, from Proto-West Germanic *Rūmu, from Proto-Germanic *Rūmō and influenced by Late Latin Rōma (“Rome, Constantinople”), from Classical Latin Rōma (“Rome”). In Roman mythology, the name was said to derive from Ro… 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 Rome, spelled R-O-M-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    A major city, the capital of Italy and the Italian region of Lazio, located on the Tiber River; the ancient capital of the Roman Empire.
  2. 2
    A metropolitan city of Lazio, Italy.
  3. 3
    The Italian government.
  4. 4
    An ancient empire based out of the city of Rome, covering vast territories in Europe, Asia and Africa; in full, Roman Empire.
  5. 5
    The Holy See, the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church, particularly prior to the establishment of the Vatican City in the 19th century.
  6. 6
    The Church of Rome, the Roman Catholic Church generally.
  7. 7
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    A surname.

Etymology

From Middle English Rome, from Old English Rōm, from Proto-West Germanic *Rūmu, from Proto-Germanic *Rūmō and influenced by Late Latin Rōma (“Rome, Constantinople”), from Classical Latin Rōma (“Rome”). In Roman mythology, the name was said to derive from Romulus, one of the founders of the city and its first king. The name appears in a wide range of forms in Middle English, including Rom, Room, Roome, and Rombe as well as Rome; by early modern English, it appeared as Rome, Room, and Roome, with the spelling Rome occurring in Shakespeare and common from the early 18th century on. The final spelling was influenced by Norman, Middle French, Anglo-Norman, and Old French Rome. Doublet of Roma and Rum.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: orme,rmoe,roem,romme,rrome

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for Rome

Misspelling Variants of "Rome"

orme4rmoe4roem4romme5rrome5
Misspelling Variants of "Rome"

Frequency rank: #3,332 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Rome"?
"Rome" is spelled R-O-M-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ɹəʊm/.
What does "Rome" mean?
As a name, "Rome" means: A major city, the capital of Italy and the Italian region of Lazio, located on the Tiber River; the ancient capital of the Roman Empire.
What words are commonly confused with "Rome"?
"Rome" is commonly confused with "row", "Roy", "Ron". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "Rome"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Rome" is /ɹəʊm/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "Rome"?
From Middle English Rome, from Old English Rōm, from Proto-West Germanic *Rūmu, from Proto-Germanic *Rūmō and influenced by Late Latin Rōma (“Rome, Constantinople”), from Classical Latin Rōma (“Rome”). In Roman mythology, the name was said to deri... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter R in our English index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.