scouring
/ˈskaʊ.ɚ.ɪŋ/noun, verb
scouring is spelled S-C-O-U-R-I-N-G: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 29,270th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, scouring means “The act of cleaning a surface by rubbing it with a brush, soap and water” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of scouring is scourings.
How many letters and syllables are in scouring?
| Letters | 8: S-C-O-U-R-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 29,270th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is scouring?
Scouring appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 29,270th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce scouring?
- UK /ˈskaʊə.ɹɪŋ/
- US /ˈskaʊ.ɚ.ɪŋ/
- US /ˈskaʊɹ.ɪŋ/
Scouring has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Persent101-scouring.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with scouring?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as scouring (/aʊəɹɪŋ/).
Spelled with the same letters in another order: sourcing, coursing.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of scouring
- scourings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does scouring mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The act of cleaning a surface by rubbing it with a brush, soap and water.
- 2
Diarrhea. (Now used only of livestock, though also sometimes used of humans into the 1600s.)
For that kind of lax and scouring called bloody flux, see the article BLOODY FLUX.
- 3
Erosion by water, especially in watercourses.
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of scour
Scouring the entire area revealed nothing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).