# stalk

> English word · Noun · IPA /stɔːk/ · frequency rank #15,919

## Definitions
1. The stem or main axis of a plant.
2. The petiole, pedicel, or peduncle of a plant.
3. Something resembling the stalk of a plant, such as the stem of a quill.
4. An ornament in the Corinthian capital resembling the stalk of a plant, from which the volutes and helices spring.
5. One of the two upright pieces of a ladder.
6. A stem or peduncle, as in certain barnacles and crinoids.
7. The narrow basal portion of the abdomen of a hymenopterous insect.
8. The peduncle of the eyes of decapod crustaceans.
9. An iron bar with projections inserted in a core to strengthen it; a core arbor.
10. Informally, a construction which generalizes that of the notion of the ring of germs of functions near a point to the context of arbitrary sheaves. Formally, given a sheaf ℱ on a space X, and a point x in X, the direct limit of the sections of F on the open neighborhoods of x ordered by reverse inclusion. See Stalk (sheaf) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
11. The penis.

## Etymology
From Middle English stalke, stelke, stalk, perhaps from Old English *stealc, *stielc, *stealuc, from Proto-West Germanic *staluk, *stalik, from Proto-Germanic *stalukaz, *stalikaz, diminutive of Proto-Germanic *stalô, *staluz (“support, stem, stalk”), from Proto-Indo-European *stel- (“to place, stand; be stiff; stud, post, trunk, stake, stem, stalk”).
Cognates
Cognate with Dutch staal (“sample”), steel (“stem”), German Stiel (“stalk”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål stilk (“stalk, stem”), Faroese stjølur (“bottom part of a sheaf”), Icelandic stilkur (“stalk, stem”), Norwegian Nynorsk stilk, stylk (“stalk, stem”), styl (“lower part of a straw”), Swedish stjälk (“stalk, stem”), Albanian shtalkë (“crossbeam, board used as a door hinge”), Welsh telm (“frond”), Ancient Greek στειλειή (steileiḗ, “beam”), Old Armenian ստեղն (stełn, “trunk, stalk”).

## Easily confused with
- **stay** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stalk-vs-stay)
- **star** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stalk-vs-star)
- **stan** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stalk-vs-stan)
- **stat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stalk-vs-stat)
- **still** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stalk-vs-still)
- **state** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stalk-vs-state)
- **start** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stalk-vs-start)
- **stand** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stalk-vs-stand)
- **style** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stalk-vs-style)
- **stock** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stalk-vs-stock)
- **stars** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stalk-vs-stars)
- **stick** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stalk-vs-stick)
- **stuck** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stalk-vs-stuck)
- **steal** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stalk-vs-steal)
- **stats** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stalk-vs-stats)
- **stays** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stalk-vs-stays)
- **stole** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stalk-vs-stole)
- **stamp** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stalk-vs-stamp)
- **stark** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stalk-vs-stark)
- **steak** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stalk-vs-steak)

## Common misspellings (8)
`satlk`, `sstalk`, `stakl`, `stalkk`, `stallk`, `stlak`, `sttalk`, `tsalk`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/stalk