spruce
/spɹuːs/noun, adjective, verb
spruce is spelled S-P-R-U-C-E: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.5 times per million words in written English, the 17,342nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, spruce means “Any of various large coniferous evergreen trees or shrubs from the genus Picea, found in northern temperate and boreal regions; originally and more…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of spruce is spruces.
How many letters and syllables are in spruce?
| Letters | 6: S-P-R-U-C-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.5 times per million words; the 17,342nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
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 spruce?
Spruce appears 2.5 times per million words in written English, the 17,342nd 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 spruce?
- US /spɹuːs/
- /spɹʉs/
Spruce 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-spruce.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with spruce?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as spruce from its last stressed vowel (/us/):
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 spruce
- spruces plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- sprucer comparative
- sprucest superlative
- sprucing participle, present
- spruced participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does spruce mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Any of various large coniferous evergreen trees or shrubs from the genus Picea, found in northern temperate and boreal regions; originally and more fully spruce fir.
- 2
The wood of a spruce.
- 3
Made of the wood of the spruce.
That spruce table is beautiful!
- 4
obsoletePrussian leather; pruce.
adjective
- 1
Smart, trim, and elegant in appearance; fastidious (said of a person).
verb
- 1
To arrange neatly; tidy up.
- 2
To make oneself spruce (neat and elegant in appearance).
- 3
To tease.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Spruce in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | épicéa, épinette |
| German | Fichte , Fichtenholz |
| Portuguese | abeto vermelho, pícea, espruce |
| Spanish | pícea |
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 spruce come from?
From Middle English Spruce, an alteration of Pruce (“Prussia”), from Medieval Latin, from a Baltic language, probably Old Prussian; for more, see Prussia. Spruce, spruse (1412), and Sprws (1378) were terms for commodities brought to England by Hanseatic merchants (beer, wood, leather). The tree with this name was also believed to have been native to Prussia. The adjective and verb senses ("trim, neat" and "to make trim, neat") are attested from 1594, and originate with spruce leather (1466), which was used to make a popular style of jerkins in the 1400s that was considered smart-looking.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).