stound

/staʊnd/

//staʊnd// noun

"stound" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“stound” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
6
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An hour.

Corpus desk

Index EN-stound · stound · English

stound · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "S" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for stound
PropertyValue
Headwordstound
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/staʊnd/
Letters6
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “stound” in English

stoundranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

stound is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /staʊnd/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 9 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for stound in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English stond, stounde, stound (“hour, time, season, moment”), from Old English stund (“a period of time, while, hour, occasion”), from Proto-West Germanic *stundu, from Proto-Germanic *stundō (“point in time, hour”), from Proto-Indo-European *s… The correct English form is stound, spelled S-T-O-U-N-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    An hour.
  2. 2
    A tide, season.
  3. 3
    A time, length of time, hour, while.
  4. 4
    A brief span of time, moment, instant.
  5. 5
    A moment or instance of urgency; exigence.
  6. 6
    A sharp or sudden pain; a shock, an attack.
  7. 7
    A stroke or blow (from an object or weapon); (by extension) a lashing; scourging
  8. 8
    A fit, an episode or sudden outburst of emotion; a rush.
  9. 9
    Astonishment; amazement.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how stound appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. What booth wilt thou have? our king reply'd / Now tell me in this stound
  2. He lay and slept, and swet a stound, / And became whole and sound.

Etymology

From Middle English stond, stounde, stound (“hour, time, season, moment”), from Old English stund (“a period of time, while, hour, occasion”), from Proto-West Germanic *stundu, from Proto-Germanic *stundō (“point in time, hour”), from Proto-Indo-European *stut- (“prop”), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand”). Cognate with Scots stound (“while, period of time, moment, sudden pain, pang, stroke, blow”), dated Dutch stond (“hour, time, moment”), Low German Stund (“hour”), German Stunde (“hour”), Danish stund (“time, while”), and Swedish stund (“time, while”). Compare Middle English stunden (“to linger, stay, remain for a while”), Icelandic stunda (“to frequent, pursue”). Related to stand.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "stound"?
"stound" is spelled S-T-O-U-N-D. The IPA pronunciation is /staʊnd/.
What does "stound" mean?
As a noun, "stound" means: An hour.
How do you pronounce "stound"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "stound" is /staʊnd/. 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 "stound"?
From Middle English stond, stounde, stound (“hour, time, season, moment”), from Old English stund (“a period of time, while, hour, occasion”), from Proto-West Germanic *stundu, from Proto-Germanic *stundō (“point in time, hour”), from Proto-Indo-E... 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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list