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star

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

Letters

4 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "star", 4-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "star" 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 "star" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

star is aEnglishnoun. It means: Any small, natural and bright dot in the sky, most visible in the night or twilight sky. This sense includes the planets, but it is now sometimes used in exclusion of them due to influence from the... Pronounced /stɑː(ɹ)/. It ranks #666 in English word frequency. Often confused with STD and STR.

Key facts for star
PropertyValue
Headwordstar
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/stɑː(ɹ)/
Letters4
Frequency rank#666
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

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

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for star is 4 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /stɑː(ɹ)/. Corpus data places it at rank #666 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 13 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 4 documented wrong-spelling variants for star, with forms such as "satr", "sstar", and "stra". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "STD", "STR", "STS", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English sterre, from Old English steorra (“star”), from Proto-West Germanic *sterrō, variant of *sternō, from Proto-Germanic *sternô, *sternǭ (“star”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂stḗr (“star”). Doublet of aster; related to estoile, étoile, stel… 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 star, spelled S-T-A-R, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Any small, natural and bright dot in the sky, most visible in the night or twilight sky. This sense includes the planets, but it is now sometimes used in exclusion of them due to influence from the technical astronomical sense.
  2. 2
    Any small, natural and bright dot in the sky, most visible in the night or twilight sky. This sense includes the planets, but it is now sometimes used in exclusion of them due to influence from the technical astronomical sense.
  3. 3
    A very massive ball of plasma with strong enough gravity to have ongoing fusion of hydrogen or heavier elements in its core. In strict technical usage, the Sun is included.
  4. 4
    senses derived from the apparent shape of a star in the sky when blurred by the eyes to have streaks
  5. 5
    senses derived from the apparent shape of a star in the sky when blurred by the eyes to have streaks
  6. 6
    senses derived from the apparent shape of a star in the sky when blurred by the eyes to have streaks
  7. 7
    senses derived from the apparent shape of a star in the sky when blurred by the eyes to have streaks
  8. 8
    senses derived from the apparent shape of a star in the sky when blurred by the eyes to have streaks
  9. 9
    senses relating to fame
  10. 10
    senses relating to fame
  11. 11
    senses relating to fame
  12. 12
    A friend, a mate, a pal.
  13. 13
    A composition of combustible matter used in the heading of rockets, in mines, etc., which, exploding in the air, presents a starlike appearance.

Etymology

From Middle English sterre, from Old English steorra (“star”), from Proto-West Germanic *sterrō, variant of *sternō, from Proto-Germanic *sternô, *sternǭ (“star”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂stḗr (“star”). Doublet of aster; related to estoile, étoile, stella, and stelo. Cognates Cognate with Scots starn, ster (“star”), Yola starr, steor (“star”), Saterland Frisian Stiern (“star”), West Frisian stjer (“star”), Cimbrian stèrn (“star”), Dutch ster (“star”), German Stern (“star”), Luxembourgish Stär (“star”), Mòcheno stern (“star”), Vilamovian śtaom (“star”), Yiddish שטערן (shtern, “star”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål stjerne (“star”), Faroese stjørna (“star”), Gutnish stjännå (“star”), Icelandic stjarna (“star”), Norwegian Nynorsk skjødna, stjerne (“star”), Swedish stjärna (“star”), Crimean Gothic stein (“star”), Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌽𐍉 (stairnō, “star”), French étoile (“star”), Istriot stila (“star”), Istro-Romanian ste (“star”), Italian stella (“star”), Megleno-Romanian steau̯ă (“star”), Mirandese streilha (“star”), Occitan estela (“star”), Portuguese estrela (“star”), Romansh staila (“star”), Romanian stea (“star”), Sardinian isteddu (“star”), Sicilian stidda (“star”), Spanish estrella (“star”), Venetan stéła (“star”), Walloon sitoele (“star”), Latin stēlla (“star”), Ancient Greek ἀστήρ (astḗr, “star”), Greek αστέρι (astéri, “star”), Old Armenian աստղ (astł, “star”), Persian ستاره (setâre, “star”), Tajik ситора (sitora, “star”), Pashto ستوری (storay, “star”), Mazanderani اساره (ëssâre, “star”), Northern Kurdish stêr (“star”), Central Kurdish ئەستێرە (estêre, “star”), Zazaki astare (“star”), Ossetian стъалы (st’aly, “star”), Hindi तारा (tārā, “star”), Urdu تارا (tārā, “star”), Punjabi ਤਾਰਾ (tārā, “star”), Gujarati તારો (tāro, “star”), Sanskrit तारा (tārā, “star”).

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: satr,sstar,stra,sttar

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for star

Misspelling Variants of "star"

satr4sstar5stra4sttar5
Misspelling Variants of "star"

Frequency rank: #666 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "star"?
"star" is spelled S-T-A-R. The IPA pronunciation is /stɑː(ɹ)/.
What does "star" mean?
As a noun, "star" means: Any small, natural and bright dot in the sky, most visible in the night or twilight sky. This sense includes the planets, but it is now sometimes used in exclusion of them due to influence from the...
What words are commonly confused with "star"?
"star" is commonly confused with "STD", "STR", "STS". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "star"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "star" is /stɑː(ɹ)/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "star"?
From Middle English sterre, from Old English steorra (“star”), from Proto-West Germanic *sterrō, variant of *sternō, from Proto-Germanic *sternô, *sternǭ (“star”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂stḗr (“star”). Doublet of aster; related to estoile, ét... 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. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.