shack
/ʃæk/noun, verb, adjective
shack is spelled S-H-A-C-K: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.7 times per million words in written English, the 16,455th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, shack means “A crude, roughly built hut or cabin” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of shack is shacks.
How many letters and syllables are in shack?
| Letters | 5: S-H-A-C-K |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.7 times per million words; the 16,455th 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 shack?
Shack appears 2.7 times per million words in written English, the 16,455th 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 shack?
- /ʃæk/
Shack 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)-Vealhurl-shack.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with shack
Also written: shag.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with shack?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as shack.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: hacks.
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 shack
- shacks plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- shacking participle, present
- shacked participle, past
- more shack comparative
- most shack superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does shack mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A crude, roughly built hut or cabin.
- 2
Any poorly constructed or poorly furnished building.
- 3
slangThe room from which a ham radio operator transmits.
- 4
obsoleteGrain fallen to the ground and left after harvest.
- 5
obsoleteNuts which have fallen to the ground.
- 6
obsoleteFreedom to pasturage in order to feed upon shack.
[…] first comes the case of tenants with a customary right to shack their sheep and cattle who have overburdened the fields with a larger number of beasts than their tenement entitles them to, or who have allowed their beasts to feed in the
- 7
UKUSobsoleteA shiftless fellow; a low, itinerant beggar; a vagabond; a tramp.
- 8
Bait that can be picked up at sea.
- 9
slangA drink, especially an alcoholic one.
verb
- 1
To live (in or with); to shack up.
- 2
obsoleteTo shed or fall, as corn or grain at harvest.
- 3
obsoleteTo feed in stubble, or upon waste.
[…] first comes the case of tenants with a customary right to shack their sheep and cattle who have overburdened the fields with a larger number of beasts than their tenement entitles them to, or who have allowed their beasts to feed in the
- 4
UKTo wander as a vagabond or tramp.
- 5
USTo hibernate; to go into winter quarters.
- 6
slangTo drink, especially alcohol.
adjective
- 1
slangAlternative form of shag (“exhausted; tiring”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Shack in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense crude hut:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | cabanon, baraque |
| German | Hütte, Bude |
| Portuguese | barraco, choupana, cabana, casebre, tugúrio |
| Spanish | barraca, cambuche, casa bruja, chabola, champa, jacal |
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 shack come from?
Unknown. Some scholars derive this word from Mexican Spanish jacal, from Nahuatl xacalli (“adobe hut”). Alternatively, the word may instead come from ramshackle/ramshackly (e.g., old ramshackly house) or perhaps it may be a back-formation from shackly. Compare Tavringer Romani hak (“place, house”), Traveller Norwegian hak (“place”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).