English Word Reference Free

skimmer

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

7 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "skimmer", 7-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Wiktionary, and usage frequency ranked against an open word-frequency list covering the top 100,000 English words. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "skimmer" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "skimmer" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

skimmer is aEnglishnoun. It means: A device that skims.

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Key facts for skimmer
PropertyValue
Headwordskimmer
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters7
Frequency rank#57,076
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of skimmer in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for skimmer is 7 letters long, classified as anoun. Corpus data places it at rank #57,076 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 13 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

No misspelling variants are generated for skimmer in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns.It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From skim + -er. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is skimmer, spelled S-K-I-M-M-E-R, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    A device that skims.
  2. 2
    A device that skims.
  3. 3
    A device that skims.
  4. 4
    A person who skims.
  5. 5
    Any of three species of bird, in the genus Rynchops of the family Laridae, that feed by skimming the surface of water bodies with their bills in flight.
  6. 6
    Any of several large bivalve shells, sometimes used for skimming milk, such as the sea clam (Spisula solidissima) and large scallops.
  7. 7
    A ballet flat shoe.
  8. 8
    A loose-fitting one-piece dress, similar to a shift but with slightly more fitting.
  9. 9
    Any of the dragonflies in the family Libellulidae.
  10. 10
    A sailor in the surface forces, as opposed to a submariner.
  11. 11
    A surface ship.
  12. 12
    A small, fast-moving spacecraft.
  13. 13
    Synonym of water strider.

Etymology

From skim + -er.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Frequency rank: #57,076 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "skimmer"?
"skimmer" is spelled S-K-I-M-M-E-R.
What does "skimmer" mean?
As a noun, "skimmer" means: A device that skims.
What is the origin of the word "skimmer"?
From skim + -er. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter S in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.