woke
/woʊk/adjective, noun, verb
woke is spelled W-O-K-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 17 times per million words in written English, the 4,934th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, woke means “Awake: conscious and not asleep” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in woke?
| Letters | 4: W-O-K-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 17 times per million words; the 4,934th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 woke?
Woke appears 17 times per million words in written English, the 4,934th 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 woke?
- UK /wəʊk/
- US /woʊk/
- Australia /wəʉk/
Woke has one syllable (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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Pvanp7-woke.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-woke.wav, En-us-woke.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with woke?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as woke from its last stressed vowel (/oʊk/):
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 woke
- more woke comparative
- woker comparative
- most woke superlative
- wokest superlative
- wokes plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does woke mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Awake: conscious and not asleep.
- 2
slangAlert, aware of what is going on, or well-informed, especially of racial and other social justice issues.
- 3
derogatoryslangHolding progressive views or attitudes, principally with regard to social justice.
- 4
derogatoryslangPromoting cancel culture, pontification, victim mentality, or virtue signalling.
noun
- 1
derogatoryslangA person with progressive views or attitudes.
- 2
derogatoryslangA progressive ideology, in particular with regards to social justice.
verb
- 1
simple past of wake
- 2
colloquialpast participle of wake
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Woke in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | au fait , politiquement correct, woke |
| German | aufmerksam, wachsam , politisch korrekt |
| Portuguese | ligado , lacrador, lacradora, woke |
| Spanish | alerta , progre |
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 woke come from?
Shortened from woken or woken up, or derived from dialectal use of woke (past participle of wake). The sense of being aware of social injustice dates to at least the 1930s. The derogatory use has been most commonly used as of the 2020s.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).