tress
/tɹɛs/
"tress" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“tress” is uncommon English (frequency #63,321 among 3,151 “T” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #63,321
- frequency rank, English
- 3,151
- “T” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A braid, knot, or curl, of hair; a ringlet.
Corpus desk
Index EN-tress · tress · English
tress · rank #63,321 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #63,321
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,151
- PHOTO-FINISH trenchant
Nearest frequency peer: trenchant (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “tress”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- transept
transept
36,682 corpus weight
- trenchant
trenchant
36,681 corpus weight
- tress
tress
36,680 corpus weight
- trilby
trilby
36,679 corpus weight
- tumi
tumi
36,677 corpus weight
- Tunstall
Tunstall
36,676 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “tress” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tress |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /tɹɛs/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #63,321 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “tress” in English
Rare enough to double-check
tress is uncommon English at frequency #63,321 among 3,151 “T” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /tɹɛs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
tress has no tracked misspelling variants, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English tresse, from Old French tresce, of uncertain origin; possibly from Vulgar Latin *trichia, from Ancient Greek τριχία (trikhía, “rope”), from θρίξ (thríx, “hair”). Compare French tresse, Italian treccia. The correct English form is tress, spelled T-R-E-S-S.
Definition
- 1A braid, knot, or curl, of hair; a ringlet.
- 2A long lock of hair.
- 3A knot or festoon, as of flowers.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how tress appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
nor was the doom / of guilty deed, but of a hapless wight / to sudden madness stung, ere ripe to die, / therefore the Queen of Hades had not shorn / the fair tress from her forehead, nor assigned / that soul to Stygian dark.
Even without theatrical shoes on, Erlys was taller than Luca Zombini, and kept her fair hair in a Psyche knot, out of which the less governable tresses continued, with the day, to escape.
Etymology
From Middle English tresse, from Old French tresce, of uncertain origin; possibly from Vulgar Latin *trichia, from Ancient Greek τριχία (trikhía, “rope”), from θρίξ (thríx, “hair”). Compare French tresse, Italian treccia.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "tress", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).