search
/sɝt͡ʃ/noun, verb
search is spelled S-E-A-R-C-H. The wrong spelling people search most is serch: about 510 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 175 of all searches for the word. Search is a noun meaning “An attempt to find something”. The plural of search is searches.
How many letters and syllables are in search?
| Letters | 6: S-E-A-R-C-H |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 91 times per million words; the 1,167th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 3; the most searched, serch, about 510 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with | |
| 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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell search?
Search is spelled S-E-A-R-C-H. 3 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 74 of the searches for search in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is search?
Search appears 91 times per million words in written English, the 1,167th 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 search?
- UK /sɜːt͡ʃ/
- US /sɝt͡ʃ/
- /sɑː(ɹ)t͡ʃ/
Search 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: En-us-search.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with search?
6 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as search from its last stressed vowel (/ɜɹtʃ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: chaser, casher, eschar.
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 search
- searches plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- searching participle, present
- searched participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does search mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An attempt to find something.
With only five minutes until we were meant to leave, the search for the keys started in earnest.
- 2
The act of searching in general.
Search is a hard problem for computers to solve efficiently.
verb
- 1
To look in (a place) for something.
I searched the garden for the keys and found them in the vegetable patch.
- 2
To look thoroughly.
The police are searching for evidence in his flat.
- 3
archaicTo look for, seek.
- 4
To put a phrase into a search engine, especially one besides Google.
I searched "Paris Hilton" and found lots of unflattering stories.
- 5
obsoleteTo probe or examine (a wound).
- 6
obsoleteTo examine; to try; to put to the test.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate search?
Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of search: VES, srch.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Search in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | recherche , chercher, fouiller |
| German | Suche , suchen, absuchen, durchsuchen |
| Portuguese | busca , buscar, procurar |
| Spanish | búsqueda, esculco, rebusca, rebusco, campeada, busca |
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 search come from?
Inherited from Middle English serchen, borrowed from Anglo-Norman sercher, Old French cerchier, from Late Latin circō, ,circāre (“to circle; go around; search for”), from circus.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).