# terror

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈtɛɹ.ɚ/ · frequency rank #4,637

## Definitions
1. Intense dread, fright, or fear.
2. The action or quality of causing dread; terribleness, especially such qualities in narrative fiction.
3. Something or someone that causes such fear.
4. Terrorism.
5. A night terror.

## Etymology
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *tres-
Proto-Indo-European *-yeti
Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti
Proto-Indo-European *troséyeti
Proto-Italic *trozeō
Latin terreō
Proto-Indo-European *-os
Proto-Indo-European *-s
Proto-Indo-European *-ōs
Proto-Italic *-ōs
Latin -or
Latin terrorbor.
Old French terreur
Middle French terreurbor.
Middle English terrour
English terror
From late Middle English terrour, from Old French terreur f (“terror, fear, dread”), from Latin terror m (“fright, fear, terror”), from terrēre (“to frighten, terrify”), from Old Latin tr̥reō, from Proto-Italic *trozeō, from Proto-Indo-European *tre- (“to shake”), *tres- (“to tremble”).

## Easily confused with
- **terry** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/terror-vs-terry)
- **terra** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/terra-vs-terror)
- **tenor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tenor-vs-terror)
- **tensor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tensor-vs-terror)
- **terrier** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/terrier-vs-terror)

## Common misspellings (7)
`etrror`, `teror`, `terorr`, `terrorr`, `terrro`, `treror`, `tterror`

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