stop
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
4 characters
Language
English
word origin
Source
Wiktionary
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "stop", 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 "stop" 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 "stop" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
stop is aEnglishverb. It means: To cease moving. Pronounced /stɒp/. It ranks #283 in English word frequency. Often confused with sup and STR.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | stop |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /stɒp/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #283 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for stop is 4 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /stɒp/. Corpus data places it at rank #283 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 14 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 6 documented wrong-spelling variants for stop, with forms such as "sotp", "sstop", and "stopp". 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, "sup", "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 stoppen, stoppien, from Old English stoppian (“to stop, close”), from Proto-West Germanic *stoppōn, from Proto-Germanic *stuppōną (“to stop, close”), *stuppijaną (“to push, pierce, prick”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewp-, *(s)tewb- (… 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 stop, spelled S-T-O-P, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1To cease moving.
- 2Not to continue.
- 3To cause (something) to cease moving or progressing.
- 4To cease; to no longer continue.
- 5To cause (something) to come to an end.
- 6To interrupt, prevent or end the activity of someone or something.
- 7To close or block an opening.
- 8To adjust the aperture of a camera lens.
- 9To stay; to spend a short time; to reside or tarry temporarily.
- 10To regulate the sounds of (musical strings, etc.) by pressing them against the fingerboard with the finger, or otherwise shortening the vibrating part.
- 11To punctuate.
- 12To make fast; to stopper.
- 13To pronounce (a phoneme) as a stop.
- 14To delay the purchase or sale of (a stock) while agreeing the price for later.
Etymology
From Middle English stoppen, stoppien, from Old English stoppian (“to stop, close”), from Proto-West Germanic *stoppōn, from Proto-Germanic *stuppōną (“to stop, close”), *stuppijaną (“to push, pierce, prick”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewp-, *(s)tewb- (“to push; stick”), from *(s)tew- (“to bump; impact; butt; push; beat; strike; hit”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian stopje (“to stop, block”), West Frisian stopje (“to stop”), Dutch stoppen (“to stop”), Low German stoppen (“to stop”), German stopfen (“to be filling, stuff”), German stoppen (“to stop”), Danish stoppe (“to stop”), Swedish stoppa (“to stop”), Icelandic stoppa (“to stop”), Middle High German stupfen, stüpfen (“to pierce”). More at stuff, stump. Alternative etymology derives Proto-West Germanic *stoppōn from an assumed Vulgar Latin *stūpāre, *stuppāre (“to stop up with tow”), from stūpa, stīpa, stuppa (“tow, flax, oakum”), from Ancient Greek στύπη (stúpē), στύππη (stúppē, “tow, flax, oakum”). This derivation, however, is doubtful, as the earliest instances of the Germanic verb do not carry the meaning of "stuff, stop with tow". Rather, these senses developed later in response to influence from similar sounding words in Latin and Romance.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: sotp,sstop,stopp,stpo,sttop,tsop
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for stop
Misspelling Variants of "stop"
Frequency rank: #283 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter S in our English index: