stir
/stɝ/verb, noun
stir is spelled S-T-I-R. The wrong spelling people search most is stirr: about 330 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 15 of all searches for the word. Stir is a verb meaning “To disturb the relative position of the particles (of a liquid or similar) by passing an object through it”.
How many letters and syllables are in stir?
| Letters | 4: S-T-I-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 9.1 times per million words; the 7,553rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, stirr, about 330 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell stir?
Stir is spelled S-T-I-R. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 15 of the searches for stir in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is stir?
Stir appears 9.1 times per million words in written English, the 7,553rd 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 stir?
- UK /stɜː/
- US /stɝ/
- /stɪr/
Stir 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-stir.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with stir?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as stir from its last stressed vowel (/ɜɹ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: tris.
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 stir
- stirs present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- stirring participle, present
- stirred participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does stir mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To disturb the relative position of the particles (of a liquid or similar) by passing an object through it.
She stirred the pudding with a spoon.
- 2
To disturb the content of (a container) by passing an object through it.
Would you please stir this pot so that the chocolate doesn't burn?
- 3
To emotionally affect; to touch, to move.
- 4
To incite to action.
- 5
To bring into debate; to agitate.
- 6
obsoleteTo disturb, to disrupt.
- 7
datedTo change the place of in any manner; to move.
- 8
To begin to move, especially gently, from a still or unmoving position.
noun
- 1
The act or result of stirring (moving around the particles of a liquid etc.)
Can you give the soup a little stir?
- 2
agitation; tumult; bustle; noise or various movements.
- 3
Public disturbance or commotion; tumultuous disorder; seditious uproar.
- 4
Agitation of thoughts; conflicting passions.
- 5
slangJail; prison.
He's going to be spending maybe ten years in stir.
noun
- 1
Acronym of short-term interest rate, often referring to a short-term interest rate future or option.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Stir in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | remuer , touiller , bouger , agiter , tumulte |
| German | rühren , umrühren , (sich) bewegen , (sich) regen , anstacheln , hervorrufen |
| Portuguese | mexer , agitar , incitar |
| Spanish | revolver, bullir, mesclar, mecer, mejer, escrucar |
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 stir come from?
From Middle English stiren, sturien, steren, from Old English styrian (“to be in motion, move, agitate, stir, disturb, trouble”), from Proto-Germanic *sturiz (“turmoil, noise, confusion”), related to Proto-West Germanic *staurijan (“to destroy, disturb”). Cognate with Old Norse styrr (“turmoil, noise, confusion”), German stören (“to disturb”), Dutch storen (“to disturb”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).