stroke
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 "stroke", 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 "stroke" 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 "stroke" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
stroke is aEnglishnoun. It means: An act of hitting; a blow, a hit. Pronounced /stɹəʊk/. It ranks #4,555 in English word frequency. Often confused with strong and stroll.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | stroke |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /stɹəʊk/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #4,555 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for stroke is 6 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /stɹəʊk/. Corpus data places it at rank #4,555 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 34 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 stroke, with forms such as "srtoke", "sstroke", and "storke". 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, "strong", "stroll", "Stroud", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: The noun is derived from Middle English strok, stroke (“blow from a weapon, cut”), from Old English strāc, from Proto-West Germanic *straik, from Proto-Germanic *straikaz (“stroke”), from Proto-Indo-European *streyg- (“to rub, stroke; to shear; to strike”).… 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 stroke, spelled S-T-R-O-K-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1An act of hitting; a blow, a hit.
- 2An act of hitting; a blow, a hit.
- 3An act of hitting; a blow, a hit.
- 4An act of hitting; a blow, a hit.
- 5An act of hitting; a blow, a hit.
- 6An act of hitting; a blow, a hit.
- 7An act of hitting; a blow, a hit.
- 8An act of hitting; a blow, a hit.
- 9A movement similar to that of hitting.
- 10A movement similar to that of hitting.
- 11A movement similar to that of hitting.
- 12A movement similar to that of hitting.
- 13A movement similar to that of hitting.
- 14A movement similar to that of hitting.
- 15A movement similar to that of hitting.
- 16An act causing hurt or death, especially when seen as divine punishment.
- 17A damaging occurrence, especially if sudden; a blow, a calamity.
- 18An amount of work; specifically, a large amount of business or work.
- 19A powerful or sudden effort by which something is done or produced; also, something accomplished by such an effort; an achievement, a feat.
- 20A single movement of a paintbrush, chisel, pen, pencil, or similar implement; a line or mark made by such an implement.
- 21A single movement of a paintbrush, chisel, pen, pencil, or similar implement; a line or mark made by such an implement.
- 22A single movement of a paintbrush, chisel, pen, pencil, or similar implement; a line or mark made by such an implement.
- 23A single movement of a paintbrush, chisel, pen, pencil, or similar implement; a line or mark made by such an implement.
- 24A distinctive expression in a written composition; a touch.
- 25Influence; power.
- 26Influence; power.
- 27A masterful or effective action.
- 28A sudden interruption of blood supply to the brain, causing minor to major brain damage and possible death.
- 29An individual discharge of lightning, particularly if causing damage.
- 30An individual social interaction whereby one gives another attention or recognition.
- 31The effect or result of a striking; affliction or injury; a bruise or wound; soreness.
- 32Chiefly in to have a good stroke: appetite.
- 33A sudden attack of any illness, especially if causing loss of consciousness or movement, or when fatal.
- 34A bow or pluck of a string or strings of a stringed instrument; also, the manner in which a musical instrument is played; hence, a melody, a tune.
Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English strok, stroke (“blow from a weapon, cut”), from Old English strāc, from Proto-West Germanic *straik, from Proto-Germanic *straikaz (“stroke”), from Proto-Indo-European *streyg- (“to rub, stroke; to shear; to strike”). Sense 3.6.2.2 (“the oblique, slash, or virgule (‘/’)”) is a contraction of oblique stroke, a variant of oblique which was originally used in telegraphy. The verb is derived from the noun. Cognates * German Streich (“stroke”) * Middle Low German strēk (“stroke, trick, prank”) * Scots strak, strake, straik (“blow, stroke”)
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: srtoke,sstroke,storke,strkoe,stroek,strokke,strroke,sttroke,tsroke
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for stroke
Misspelling Variants of "stroke"
Frequency rank: #4,555 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter S in our English index: