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PlainSpell

sucker

/ˈsʌk.ɚ/noun, verb

sucker is spelled S-U-C-K-E-R: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 3.9 times per million words in written English, the 13,127th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, sucker means “A person or animal that sucks, especially a breast or udder; especially a suckling animal, young mammal before it is weaned” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of sucker is suckers.

How many letters and syllables are in sucker?

Letters6: S-U-C-K-E-R
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing3.9 times per million words; the 13,127th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is sucker?

Sucker appears 3.9 times per million words in written English, the 13,127th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce sucker?

  • UK /ˈsʌk.ə/
  • US /ˈsʌk.ɚ/

Sucker has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-sucker.ogg, En-au-Sucker.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with sucker?

6 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as sucker from its last stressed vowel (/ʌkəɹ/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of sucker

  • suckers plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • suckering participle, present
  • suckered participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does sucker mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A person or animal that sucks, especially a breast or udder; especially a suckling animal, young mammal before it is weaned.

  2. 2

    An undesired stem growing out of the roots or lower trunk of a shrub or tree, especially from the rootstock of a grafted plant or tree.

  3. 3

    A parasite; a sponger.

  4. 4

    An organ or body part that does the sucking; especially a round structure on the bodies of some insects, frogs, and octopuses that allows them to stick to surfaces.

  5. 5

    A thing that works by sucking something.

  6. 6

    The embolus, or bucket, of a pump; also, the valve of a pump basket.

  7. 7

    A pipe through which anything is drawn.

  8. 8

    A small piece of leather, usually round, having a string attached to the center, which, when saturated with water and pressed upon a stone or other body having a smooth surface, adheres, by reason of the atmospheric pressure, with such force as to enable a considerable weight to be thus lifted by the string; formerly used by children as a plaything.

  9. 9

    slangAny thing or object.

  10. 10

    derogatoryslangA person.

verb

  1. 1

    To strip the suckers or shoots from; to deprive of suckers.

    to sucker maize

  2. 2

    To produce suckers; to throw up additional stems or shoots.

  3. 3

    To move or attach oneself by means of suckers.

  4. 4

    informalTo fool someone; to take advantage of someone.

    The salesman suckered him into signing an expensive maintenance contract.

  5. 5

    informalTo lure someone.

noun

as Sucker
  1. 1

    USdatedslangA native or resident of Illinois.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Sucker in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchsuceur, suceuse (someone or something that sucks), ventouse (organ), rejeton, rejet (a stem growing up from the roots of a plant), pigeon (one who is easily fooled)
GermanSauger, Saugerin (someone or something that sucks), Wurzelschössling, Wurzelbrut, Wurzelspross (a stem growing up from the roots of a plant)
Portuguesesugador, chupador (someone or something that sucks), ventosa (organ), otário (one who is easily fooled)
Spanishmamón (someone or something that sucks), ventosa (organ), otario, pringado, primo (one who is easily fooled), burlar (to fool)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does sucker come from?

From Middle English souker, sokere, sukkere, soukere, equivalent to suck (verb) + -er. Compare Saterland Frisian Suuger, West Frisian sûker (“sucker”), Dutch zuiger (“sucker”), German Sauger (“dummy; vacuum”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after sucker