# stream

> English word · Noun · IPA /stɹiːm/ · frequency rank #2,407

## Definitions
1. A small river; a large creek; a body of moving water confined by banks.
2. All moving waters.
3. A thin connected passing of a liquid through a lighter gas (e.g. air).
4. Current, the force of moving water.
5. Any steady flow or succession of material, such as water, air, radio signal or words.
6. A particular path, channel, division, or way of proceeding.
7. A source or repository of data that can be read or written only sequentially.
8. Digital data (e.g. music or video) delivered in a continuous manner to a client computer, intended for immediate consumption or playback.
9. Digital data (e.g. music or video) delivered in a continuous manner to a client computer, intended for immediate consumption or playback.
10. A division of a school year by perceived ability.
11. A train of thought or flow in a conversation or discussion.

## Etymology
From Middle English streem, strem, from Old English strēam, from Proto-West Germanic *straum, from Proto-Germanic *straumaz (“stream”), from Proto-Indo-European *srowmos (“river”), from Proto-Indo-European *srew- (“to flow”). Doublet of rheum.
Cognate with Scots strem, streme, streym (“stream, river”), North Frisian Stroom, struum (“stream”), West Frisian stream (“stream”), Low German Stroom (“stream”), Dutch stroom (“current, flow, stream”), German Strom (“current, stream”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål strøm (“current, stream, flow”), Norwegian Nynorsk straum (“current, stream, flow”), Swedish ström (“current, stream, flow”), Faroese streymur (“stream”), Icelandic straumur (“current, stream, torrent, flood”), Ancient Greek ῥεῦμα (rheûma, “stream, flow”), Lithuanian srovė (“current, stream”) Polish strumień (“stream”), Welsh ffrwd (“stream, current”), Scottish Gaelic sruth (“stream”).

## Easily confused with
- **strep** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stream-vs-strep)
- **street** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stream-vs-street)
- **stress** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stream-vs-stress)
- **strewn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stream-vs-strewn)
- **Streep** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stream-vs-streep)
- **streams** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stream-vs-streams)
- **streamed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stream-vs-streamed)
- **streamer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stream-vs-streamer)
- **stem** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stem-vs-stream)
- **seam** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/seam-vs-stream)
- **steam** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/steam-vs-stream)
- **steal** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/steal-vs-stream)
- **straw** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/straw-vs-stream)
- **steak** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/steak-vs-stream)
- **strap** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strap-vs-stream)
- **stray** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stray-vs-stream)
- **stead** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stead-vs-stream)
- **strat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strat-vs-stream)
- **spread** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spread-vs-stream)
- **scream** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scream-vs-stream)

## Common misspellings (9)
`srteam`, `sstream`, `steram`, `straem`, `streamm`, `strema`, `strream`, `sttream`, `tsream`

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