# strain

> English word · Noun · IPA /stɹeɪn/ · frequency rank #5,633

## Definitions
1. Race; lineage, pedigree.
2. A particular variety of a microbe, virus, or other organism, usually a taxonomically infraspecific one.
3. Hereditary character, quality, tendency, or disposition.
4. Any sustained note or movement; a song; a distinct portion of an ode or other poem; also, the pervading note, or burden, of a song, poem, etc.
5. Language that is eloquent, poetic, or otherwise heightened.
6. A kind or sort (of person etc.).
7. Treasure.
8. The blood-vessel in the yolk of an egg.

## Etymology
From Middle English streen, strene, streon, istreon (“race, stock, generation”), from Old English strēon, ġestrēon (“gain, wealth”), from Proto-Germanic *streuną (“heap, treasure, profit, gain”), from Proto-Indo-European *strew- (“to spread, strew”) (cognate with Old Saxon gistriuni, Old High German gistriuni (“gain, property, wealth, business”), Latin strues (“heap”)). Confused in Middle English with the related noun strend, strynd, strund, from Old English strȳnd (“race; stock”), from strēonan, strȳnan (“to beget; acquire”). Related also to Dutch struinen (“to prowl, root about, rout”).

## Easily confused with
- **strip** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strain-vs-strip)
- **straw** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strain-vs-straw)
- **strap** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strain-vs-strap)
- **stray** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strain-vs-stray)
- **swain** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strain-vs-swain)
- **strat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strain-vs-strat)
- **string** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strain-vs-string)
- **strand** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strain-vs-strand)
- **strait** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strain-vs-strait)
- **strata** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strain-vs-strata)
- **strewn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strain-vs-strewn)
- **Straus** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strain-vs-straus)
- **Straits** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strain-vs-straits)
- **strained** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strain-vs-strained)
- **straying** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strain-vs-straying)
- **strainer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strain-vs-strainer)
- **stan** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stan-vs-strain)
- **Spain** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spain-vs-strain)
- **stain** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stain-vs-strain)
- **stein** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stein-vs-strain)

## Common misspellings (9)
`srtain`, `sstrain`, `starin`, `strainn`, `strani`, `strian`, `strrain`, `sttrain`, `tsrain`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/strain