schmooze
/ʃmuːz/
"schmooze" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“schmooze” is uncommon English (frequency #99,824 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #99,824
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To talk casually, especially in order to gain an advantage or make a social connection.
Corpus desk
Index EN-schmooze · schmooze · English
schmooze · rank #99,824 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #99,824
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH scarification
Nearest frequency peer: scarification (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “schmooze”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- satsang
satsang
184 corpus weight
- Saurashtra
Saurashtra
183 corpus weight
- scarificati…
scarification
178 corpus weight
- schmooze
schmooze
177 corpus weight
- scrimshaw
scrimshaw
173 corpus weight
- sealift
sealift
171 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “schmooze” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | schmooze |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ʃmuːz/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #99,824 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “schmooze” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
schmooze is uncommon English at frequency #99,824 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /ʃmuːz/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To talk casually, especially in order to gain an advantage or make a social connection.".
Zero misspellings are on record for schmooze in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Yiddish שמועס (shmues), from Hebrew שְׁמוּעוֹת (sh'mu'ót), plural of שְׁמוּעָה (sh'mu'á, “report, piece of news, rumor”). Cognate with German schmusen (“to cuddle”, older “to flirt, flatter, schmooze”). The correct English form is schmooze, spelled S-C-H-M-O-O-Z-E.
Definition
- 1To talk casually, especially in order to gain an advantage or make a social connection.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how schmooze appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
I wish he could do his job as well as he schmoozes with the boss.
Until about 4 A.M. there were almost no patients to be seen, and I enjoyed the chance to schmooze with my brother.
Etymology
Borrowed from Yiddish שמועס (shmues), from Hebrew שְׁמוּעוֹת (sh'mu'ót), plural of שְׁמוּעָה (sh'mu'á, “report, piece of news, rumor”). Cognate with German schmusen (“to cuddle”, older “to flirt, flatter, schmooze”).
This word in other languages
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 "schmooze", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
What to do next
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- Usage frequency rank #99,824 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
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Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.