tarse
/tɑːɹs/
"tarse" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“tarse” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 5
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The penis.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tarse |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /tɑːɹs/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “tarse” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for tarse is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /tɑːɹs/. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "The penis.".
Zero misspellings are on record for tarse in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English tarse, tearse, terce, ters, from Old English teors (“penis”), from Proto-West Germanic *ters (“nail; penis”), from Proto-Indo-European *der- (“to flay; split”). Related to Dutch teers, German Zers, and distantly (via Latin) to try. The correct English form is tarse, spelled T-A-R-S-E.
Definition
- 1The penis.
Etymology
From Middle English tarse, tearse, terce, ters, from Old English teors (“penis”), from Proto-West Germanic *ters (“nail; penis”), from Proto-Indo-European *der- (“to flay; split”). Related to Dutch teers, German Zers, and distantly (via Latin) to try.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “tarse”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-A-R-S-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /tɑːɹs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.