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PlainSpell

screed

/skɹid/noun, verb, adjective

screed is spelled S-C-R-E-E-D: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 65,114th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, screed means “A piece of writing (such as an article, letter, or list) or a speech, especially if long” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of screed is screeds.

How many letters and syllables are in screed?

Letters6: S-C-R-E-E-D
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 5 million words; the 65,114th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

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 screed?

Screed appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 65,114th 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 screed?

  • UK /skɹiːd/
  • US /skɹid/

Screed has one syllable (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)-I_learned_some_phrases-screed.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with screed?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as screed from its last stressed vowel (/id/):

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 screed

  • screeds plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • screeding participle, present
  • screeded participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does screed mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A piece of writing (such as an article, letter, or list) or a speech, especially if long.

  2. 2

    A speech or piece of writing which contains angry and extended criticism.

  3. 3

    Chiefly in the plural form screeds: a large quantity.

  4. 4

    A tool, usually a long strip of wood or other material, placed on a floor to be covered with concrete, a wall to be plastered, etc., as a guide for producing a smooth, flat surface.

  5. 5

    A tool such as a long strip of wood or other material which is drawn over a wet layer of concrete, plaster, etc., to make it smooth and flat; also, a machine that achieves this effect; a screeder.

  6. 6

    A smooth, flat layer of concrete, plaster, or similar material, especially if acting as a base for paving stones, tiles, wooden planks, etc.

  7. 7

    IrelandScotlanddatedA piece or narrow strip cut or torn off from a larger whole; a shred.

  8. 8

    ScotlandUKdatedA piece of land, especially one that is narrow.

  9. 9

    ScotlandA (discordant) sound or tune played on bagpipes, a fiddle, or a pipe.

  10. 10

    ScotlandThe sound of something scratching or tearing.

verb

  1. 1

    ScotlanddatedTo rend, to shred, to tear.

  2. 2

    ScotlanddatedTo read or repeat from memory fluently or glibly; to reel off.

  3. 3

    To use a screed to produce a smooth, flat surface of concrete, plaster, or similar material; also (generally) to put down a layer of concrete, plaster, etc.

  4. 4

    ScotlandTo become rent or torn.

  5. 5

    ScotlandrareTo play bagpipes, a fiddle, or a pipe.

  6. 6

    ScotlandrareTo make a discordant or harsh scratching or tearing sound.

  7. 7

    ScotlandobsoleterareTo play (a sound or tune) on bagpipes, a fiddle, or a pipe.

adjective

  1. 1

    ScotlandrareStrewn with scree.

    We clambered up a screed slope.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Screed in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchdiatribe, harangue, litanie, tirade (speech or piece of writing which contains angry…), chape (smooth, flat layer of concrete, plaster, or…), araser (to use a screed to produce a smooth, flat…)
GermanPamphlet, Schmähschrift, Tirade (speech or piece of writing which contains angry…), Estrich (smooth, flat layer of concrete, plaster, or…), Abziehlatte, Kartätsche (tool drawn over a wet layer to make it smooth…)
Spanishcatilinaria, diatriba, filípica (speech or piece of writing which contains angry…), losa, contrapiso (smooth, flat layer of concrete, plaster, or…)
Portuguesecontrapiso (smooth, flat layer of concrete, plaster, or…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does screed come from?

From Middle English screde [and other forms], a variant of shrede (“fragment, scrap; strip of cloth; strip cut off from a larger piece; band or thread woven into fabric; element, streak”) (whence shred (noun)), from Old English sċrēad, sċrēade (“a piece cut off; paring, shred”), from Proto-Germanic *skraudō (“a piece, shred; a cut, crack”), from *skraudaną (“to cut up, shred”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut off”). The English word is cognate with Old Frisian skrēd. Doublet of escrow, scroll, and shred.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after screed