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PlainSpell

spurn

/spɝn/verb, noun

spurn is spelled S-P-U-R-N: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 62,179th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, spurn means “To reject disdainfully; contemn; scorn” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in spurn?

Letters5: S-P-U-R-N
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 4 million words; the 62,179th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 spurn?

Spurn appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 62,179th 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 spurn?

  • UK /spɜːn/
  • US /spɝn/

Spurn 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-spurn.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with spurn?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as spurn from its last stressed vowel (/ɜɹn/):

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 spurn

  • spurns present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • spurning participle, present
  • spurned participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does spurn mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To reject disdainfully; contemn; scorn.

  2. 2

    To reject something by pushing it away with the foot.

  3. 3

    To waste; fail to make the most of (an opportunity)

  4. 4

    obsoleteTo kick or toss up the heels.

noun

  1. 1

    An act of spurning; a scornful rejection.

  2. 2

    archaicA kick; a blow with the foot.

  3. 3

    obsoleteDisdainful rejection; contemptuous treatment.

  4. 4

    A body of coal left to sustain an overhanging mass.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Spurn in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchrenier, dédaigner (to reject disdainfully), coup de pied (a kick)
Germanverschmähen, abweisen, verachten (to reject disdainfully), treten, mit Füßen treten (to reject by pushing away with the foot), vertun (to waste; fail to make the most of)
Portuguesedesdenhar (to reject disdainfully), chute (a kick)
Spanishdesdeñar (to reject disdainfully), patada (a kick)

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 spurn come from?

From Middle English spurnen, spornen, from Old English spurnan (“to strike against, kick, spurn, reject; stumble”), from Proto-Germanic *spurnaną (“to tread, kick, knock out”), from Proto-Indo-European *sperH-.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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