rud
/ɹʌd/
"rud" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“rud” is uncommon English (frequency #74,468 among 3,094 “R” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #74,468
- frequency rank, English
- 3,094
- “R” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - redness; blush
Corpus desk
Index EN-rud · rud · English
rud · rank #74,468 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #74,468
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,094
- PHOTO-FINISH ruckman
Nearest frequency peer: ruckman (-1 rank slots)
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.
Long-tail ranks near “rud”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Rothbard
Rothbard
25,538 corpus weight
- RSP
RSP
25,536 corpus weight
- ruckman
ruckman
25,534 corpus weight
- rud
rud
25,533 corpus weight
- ruffling
ruffling
25,532 corpus weight
- sachet
sachet
25,529 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “rud” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | rud |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɹʌd/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #74,468 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “rud” in English
Rare enough to double-check
rud is uncommon English at frequency #74,468 among 3,094 “R” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ɹʌd/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for rud, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English rudden, ruden, from Old English rudian (“to be ruddy”) (compare rudu (“redness”)), from Proto-Germanic *rudāną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rudʰéh₁ti, from *h₁rewdʰ- (“red”); cognate with Old Cornish rud and Old Irish rúad). (Compare red). The correct English form is rud, spelled R-U-D.
Definition
- 1redness; blush
- 2ruddle; red ochre
Etymology
From Middle English rudden, ruden, from Old English rudian (“to be ruddy”) (compare rudu (“redness”)), from Proto-Germanic *rudāną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rudʰéh₁ti, from *h₁rewdʰ- (“red”); cognate with Old Cornish rud and Old Irish rúad). (Compare red).
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "rud", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).