souse
/saʊs/
"souse" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“souse” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 5
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Something kept or steeped in brine.
Corpus desk
Index EN-souse · souse · English
souse · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "S" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | souse |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /saʊs/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “souse” in English
Rare enough to double-check
souse is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /saʊs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 7 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for souse, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English souse (“to salt pickle”) also a noun (“liquid for pickling,” “pickled pig parts”), from Old French sous (“preserved in salt”), from Frankish *sultija (“saltwater, brine”), from Proto-Germanic *sultijō (“saltwater, brine”). Cognate with O… The correct English form is souse, spelled S-O-U-S-E.
Definition
- 1Something kept or steeped in brine.
- 2Something kept or steeped in brine.
- 3Something kept or steeped in brine.
- 4Something kept or steeped in brine.
- 5Something kept or steeped in brine.
- 6The act of sousing; a plunging into water.
- 7A drunkard.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how souse appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
And he that can rear up a pig in his house, / Hath cheaper his bacon, and sweeter his souse.
"If there's any, giving in charge here I'll give you in charge for sneaking my beer, you slop-bellied old souse!" exclaimed Peter.
Etymology
From Middle English souse (“to salt pickle”) also a noun (“liquid for pickling,” “pickled pig parts”), from Old French sous (“preserved in salt”), from Frankish *sultija (“saltwater, brine”), from Proto-Germanic *sultijō (“saltwater, brine”). Cognate with Old Saxon sultia (“saltwater”), Old High German sulza (“brine”).
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.