shut
/ʃʌt/verb, adjective, noun
shut is spelled S-H-U-T: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 60 times per million words in written English, the 1,724th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, shut means “To remove or block an opening, gap or passage through” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in shut?
| Letters | 4: S-H-U-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 60 times per million words; the 1,724th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people 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); 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 common is shut?
Shut appears 60 times per million words in written English, the 1,724th 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 shut?
- /ʃʌt/
- /ʃʊt/
- /ʃɛt/
Shut 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-shut.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-shut.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with shut
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: shot.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with shut?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as shut.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: thus, tush.
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 shut
- shuts present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- shutting participle, present
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does shut mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To remove or block an opening, gap or passage through.
Please shut the door.
- 2
To make or become unreceptive.
He has shut his mind to new ideas.
- 3
UKTo close (a business or venue) temporarily or permanently.
They generally shut the museum each day at 6 pm.
- 4
To put out of use or operation.
We are shutting the phone lines at 9 pm.
- 5
To cease operation or cease to be available.
Phone lines will shut in ten minutes.
- 6
To terminate an application, window, file or database connection, etc.
Shut the file when you have finished reading data.
- 7
To catch or snag in the act of shutting something.
He's just gone and shut his finger in the door!
- 8
To confine in an enclosed area; to enclose.
I shut the cat in the kitchen before going out.
adjective
- 1
Physically sealed, obstructed, folded together, etc.
A shut door barred our way into the house.
- 2
Not available for use or operation.
Phone lines are now shut.
- 3
Not operating or conducting trade; not allowing entrance to visitors or the public.
Banks are shut on bank holidays.
- 4
Not receptive.
He mind is shut to new ideas.
- 5
Of a club, bat or other hitting implement, angled downwards and/or (for a right-hander) anticlockwise of straight.
- 6
Synonym of close.
- 7
archaicSynonym of close.
- 8
archaicArchaic form of shot (“discharged, cleared, rid of something”).
noun
- 1
The act or time of shutting; close.
the shut of a door
- 2
A door or cover; a shutter.
- 3
The line or place where two pieces of metal are welded together.
- 4
UKA narrow alley or passage acting as a short cut through the buildings between two streets.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Shut in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense (transitive) to close:
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 shut come from?
From Middle English schitten, schetten, from Old English sċyttan (“to cause rapid movement, shoot a bolt, shut, bolt”), from Proto-West Germanic *skuttjan, from Proto-Germanic *skutjaną, *skuttijaną (“to bar, bolt”), from Proto-Germanic *skuttą, *skuttjō (“bar, bolt, shed”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewd- (“to drive, fall upon, rush”). The Modern English word was originally a dialect form; the Old English word would have normally merged with shit.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).