wurst
/wɝst/
"wurst" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“wurst” is uncommon English (frequency #74,665 among 12,113 “W” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #74,665
- frequency rank, English
- 12,113
- “W” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A German- or Austrian-style sausage.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | wurst |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /wɝst/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #74,665 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “wurst” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
wurst is uncommon English at frequency #74,665 among 12,113 “W” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /wɝst/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A German- or Austrian-style sausage.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for wurst, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: First attested in 1890. Borrowed from German Wurst (“sausage, wurst”), from Middle High German wurst, from Old High German wurst, from Proto-West Germanic *wursti (“something turned or twisted”), from Proto-Indo-European *wert-, *werd- (“to turn”). Akin to … The correct English form is wurst, spelled W-U-R-S-T.
Definition
- 1A German- or Austrian-style sausage.
Etymology
First attested in 1890. Borrowed from German Wurst (“sausage, wurst”), from Middle High German wurst, from Old High German wurst, from Proto-West Germanic *wursti (“something turned or twisted”), from Proto-Indo-European *wert-, *werd- (“to turn”). Akin to Old Saxon worst (“wurst”), Old English weorþan (“to turn, become”). Doublet of wors. Unrelated to worsted (“type of yarn”). More at worth (“to be, become, betide”).
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
How do you spell "wurst"?
What does "wurst" mean?
How do you pronounce "wurst"?
What is the origin of the word "wurst"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “wurst”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is W-U-R-S-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /wɝst/ (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
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.