stirrup
/ˈstɪ.ɹəp/
"stirrup" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“stirrup” is an uncommon English word, ranked #57,101 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #57,101
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A ring or hoop suspended by a rope or strap from the saddle, for a horseman's foot while mounting or riding.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | stirrup |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈstɪ.ɹəp/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #57,101 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “stirrup” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for stirrup is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈstɪ.ɹəp/. Corpus data places it at rank #57,101 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for stirrup, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English stirop, stirope, from Old English stiġrāp (“stirrup”), a compound of stiġe ("ascent, descent, a going up or down"; related to stīġan (“to climb”)) and rāp (“rope”), equivalent to sty + rope. Cognate with Dutch stegereep, stegelreep (“sti… The correct English form is stirrup, spelled S-T-I-R-R-U-P.
Definition
- 1A ring or hoop suspended by a rope or strap from the saddle, for a horseman's foot while mounting or riding.
- 2Any piece shaped like the stirrup of a saddle, used as a support, clamp, etc.
- 3Any piece shaped like the stirrup of a saddle, used as a support, clamp, etc.
- 4A stapes.
- 5A rope secured to a yard, with a thimble in its lower end for supporting a footrope.
- 6A bent rebar wrapped around the main rebars to reinforce against shear stress.
Etymology
From Middle English stirop, stirope, from Old English stiġrāp (“stirrup”), a compound of stiġe ("ascent, descent, a going up or down"; related to stīġan (“to climb”)) and rāp (“rope”), equivalent to sty + rope. Cognate with Dutch stegereep, stegelreep (“stirrup”), Old Saxon stigerēp (“stirrup”), Middle High German stereip, stegreif ("stirrup"; > German Stegreif (“improvisation”)), Icelandic stigreip (“stirrup”).
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “stirrup”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-T-I-R-R-U-P - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈstɪ.ɹəp/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.