# struggle

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈstɹʌɡəl/ · frequency rank #2,408

## Definitions
1. A contortion of the body in an attempt to escape or to perform a difficult task.
2. Strife, contention, great effort.

## Etymology
From Middle English struglen, stroglen, strogelen, of obscure origin. Cognate with Scots strugil (“to struggle, grapple, contend”). Perhaps from a variant of *strokelen, *stroukelen (> English stroll), from Middle Dutch struyckelen ("to stumble, trip, falter"; > Modern Dutch struikelen), the frequentative form of Old Dutch *strūkon (“to stumble”), from Proto-Germanic *strūkōną, *strūkēną (“to be stiff”), from Proto-Indo-European *strug-, *ster- (“to be stiff; to bristle, strut, stumble, fall”), related to Middle Low German strûkelen ("to stumble"; > Low German strükeln), Old High German strūhhēn, strūhhōn ("to stumble, trip, tumble, go astray"; > German strauchen, straucheln).
Alternative etymology derives the base of struggle from Old Norse strúgr (“arrogance, pride, spitefulness, ill-will”) + -le (frequentative suffix), from Proto-Germanic *strūkaz (“stiff, rigid”), ultimately from the same Proto-Indo-European root above, which would make it cognate with dialectal Swedish strug (“contention, strife, discord”), Norwegian stru (“obstinate, unruly”), Danish struende (“reluctantly”), Scots strug (“difficulty, perplexity, a laborious task”).

## Easily confused with
- **struggled** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/struggle-vs-struggled)
- **smuggle** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/smuggle-vs-struggle)
- **snuggle** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snuggle-vs-struggle)
- **strangle** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strangle-vs-struggle)

## Common misspellings (11)
`srtuggle`, `sstruggle`, `strgugle`, `strruggle`, `struggel`, `strugglle`, `strugle`, `struglge`, `sttruggle`, `sturggle`, `tsruggle`

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