tack
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
4 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "tack", 4-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 "tack" 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 "tack" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
tack is aEnglishnoun. It means: A small nail with a flat head. Pronounced /tæk/. Often confused with TC and TK.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tack |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /tæk/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #17,973 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for tack is 4 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /tæk/. Corpus data places it at rank #17,973 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 14 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 6 documented wrong-spelling variants for tack, with forms such as "atck", "tacck", and "tackk". 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, "TC", "TK", "tax", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English tak, takke (“hook; staple; nail”), from Old Northern French taque (“nail, pin, peg”), from Frankish *takkō, from Proto-Germanic *takkô (“tip; point; protrusion; prong; tine; jag; spike; twig”), of unknown origin, but possibly from Proto-… 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 tack, spelled T-A-C-K, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A small nail with a flat head.
- 2A thumbtack.
- 3A loose seam used to temporarily fasten pieces of cloth.
- 4The lower corner on the leading edge of a sail relative to the direction of the wind.
- 5A course or heading that enables a sailing vessel to head upwind.
- 6A direction or course of action, especially a new one; a method or approach to solving a problem.
- 7The maneuver by which a sailing vessel turns its bow through the wind so that the wind changes from one side to the other.
- 8The distance a sailing vessel runs between these maneuvers when working to windward; a board.
- 9A rope used to hold in place the foremost lower corners of the courses when the vessel is close-hauled; also, a rope employed to pull the lower corner of a studding sail to the boom.
- 10Any of the various equipment and accessories worn by horses in the course of their use as domesticated animals.
- 11The stickiness of a compound, related to its cohesive and adhesive properties.
- 12Food generally; fare, especially of the hard bread or breadlike kind.
- 13That which is attached; a supplement; an appendix.
- 14Confidence; reliance.
Etymology
From Middle English tak, takke (“hook; staple; nail”), from Old Northern French taque (“nail, pin, peg”), from Frankish *takkō, from Proto-Germanic *takkô (“tip; point; protrusion; prong; tine; jag; spike; twig”), of unknown origin, but possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dHgʰ-n-, from the root *déHgʰ- (“to pinch; to tear, rip, fray”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Takke (“bough; branch; twig”), West Frisian takke (“branch”), tûk (“branch, smart, sharp”), Dutch tak (“twig; branch; limb”), German Zacke (“jag; prong; spike; tooth; peak”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: atck,tacck,tackk,takc,tcak,ttack
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for tack
Misspelling Variants of "tack"
Frequency rank: #17,973 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter T in our English index: