strike
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
6 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "strike", 6-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 "strike" 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 "strike" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
strike is aEnglishverb. It means: To delete or cross out; to scratch or eliminate. Pronounced /stɹaɪk/. It ranks #2,234 in English word frequency. Often confused with strip and string.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | strike |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /stɹaɪk/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #2,234 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for strike is 6 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /stɹaɪk/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,234 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 47 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 9 documented wrong-spelling variants for strike, with forms such as "srtike", "sstrike", and "stirke". 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, "strip", "string", "stroke", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English stryken, from Old English strīcan, from Proto-West Germanic *strīkan, from Proto-Germanic *strīkaną, from Proto-Indo-European *streyg- (“to stroke, rub, press”). Cognate with Dutch strijken, German streichen, Danish stryge, Icelandic str… 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 strike, spelled S-T-R-I-K-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1To delete or cross out; to scratch or eliminate.
- 2To have a sharp or sudden physical effect, as of a blow.
- 3To have a sharp or sudden physical effect, as of a blow.
- 4To have a sharp or sudden physical effect, as of a blow.
- 5To have a sharp or sudden physical effect, as of a blow.
- 6To have a sharp or sudden physical effect, as of a blow.
- 7To have a sharp or sudden physical effect, as of a blow.
- 8To have a sharp or sudden physical effect, as of a blow.
- 9To have a sharp or sudden physical effect, as of a blow.
- 10To have a sharp or sudden physical effect, as of a blow.
- 11To thrust in; to cause to enter or penetrate.
- 12To infest the flesh of a living vertebrate.
- 13To have a sharp or severe effect on a more abstract level.
- 14To have a sharp or severe effect on a more abstract level.
- 15To have a sharp or severe effect on a more abstract level.
- 16To have a sharp or severe effect on a more abstract level.
- 17To have a sharp or severe effect on a more abstract level.
- 18To have a sharp or severe effect on a more abstract level.
- 19To have a sharp or severe effect on a more abstract level.
- 20To have a sharp or severe effect on a more abstract level.
- 21To have a sharp or severe effect on a more abstract level.
- 22To have a sharp or severe effect on a more abstract level.
- 23To have a sharp or severe effect on a more abstract level.
- 24To touch; to act by appulse.
- 25To hook (a fish) by a quick turn of the wrist.
- 26To take down, especially in the following contexts.
- 27To take down, especially in the following contexts.
- 28To take down, especially in the following contexts.
- 29To take down, especially in the following contexts.
- 30To take down, especially in the following contexts.
- 31To take down, especially in the following contexts.
- 32To set off on a walk or trip.
- 33To pass with a quick or strong effect; to dart; to penetrate.
- 34To break forth; to commence suddenly; with into.
- 35To become attached to something; said of the spat of oysters.
- 36To make and ratify; to reach; to find.
- 37To discover a source of something, often a buried raw material such as ore (especially gold) or crude oil.
- 38To level (a measure of grain, salt, etc.) with a straight instrument, scraping off what is above the level of the top.
- 39To cut off (a mortar joint, etc.) even with the face of the wall, or inward at a slight angle.
- 40To hit upon, or light upon, suddenly.
- 41To lade thickened sugar cane juice from a teache into a cooler.
- 42To stroke or pass lightly; to wave.
- 43To advance; to cause to go forward; used only in the past participle.
- 44To balance (a ledger or account).
- 45To become saturated with salt.
- 46To run, or fade in colour.
- 47To do menial work for an officer.
Etymology
From Middle English stryken, from Old English strīcan, from Proto-West Germanic *strīkan, from Proto-Germanic *strīkaną, from Proto-Indo-European *streyg- (“to stroke, rub, press”). Cognate with Dutch strijken, German streichen, Danish stryge, Icelandic strýkja, strýkva.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: srtike,sstrike,stirke,striek,strikke,strkie,strrike,sttrike,tsrike
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for strike
Misspelling Variants of "strike"
Frequency rank: #2,234 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter S in our English index: