rooster
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
7 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "rooster", 7-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 "rooster" 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 "rooster" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
rooster is aEnglishnoun. It means: A male domestic chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) or other gallinaceous bird. Pronounced /ˈɹuːstə/. Often confused with roster and rooted.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | rooster |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɹuːstə/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #19,441 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 7 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for rooster is 7 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɹuːstə/. Corpus data places it at rank #19,441 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 9 documented wrong-spelling variants for rooster, with forms such as "oroster", "roosetr", and "roosster". 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 7 confusable-pair relationships, "roster", "rooted", "router", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From roost + -er. In the regions where it is used, displaced cock through taboo avoidance. Compare typologically Russian насе́дка (nasédka) (akin to наси́живать (nasíživatʹ), also akin to насе́ст (nasést)). 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 rooster, spelled R-O-O-S-T-E-R, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A male domestic chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) or other gallinaceous bird.
- 2A bird or bat which roosts or is roosting.
- 3An informer.
- 4A violent or disorderly person.
- 5A powerful, prideful, or pompous person.
- 6A man.
- 7A wild violet, when used in a children's game based on cockfighting.
- 8Legislation solely devised to benefit the legislators proposing it.
Etymology
From roost + -er. In the regions where it is used, displaced cock through taboo avoidance. Compare typologically Russian насе́дка (nasédka) (akin to наси́живать (nasíživatʹ), also akin to насе́ст (nasést)).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: oroster,roosetr,roosster,roosterr,roostre,roostter,rootser,rosoter,rrooster
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for rooster
Misspelling Variants of "rooster"
Frequency rank: #19,441 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter R in our English index: