cork

C2+ Topic:General Vocabulary

US /kɔrk/ UK /kɔːk/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
the buoyant bark of the cork oak, used to stopper bottles

He eased the cork from the bottle with a satisfying pop.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the buoyant bark of the... stopper plug bung

Word family

Derived forms corkercorkagecorkscrewcorked

Related forms uncork

Simplified etymology

Cork came through Dutch and Low German kork from Spanish alcorque, meaning “cork-soled sandal.” Alcorque combines Arabic al- “the” with a probably Spanish Arabic element, kork, based on Latin quercus “oak, cork oak.”

Etymology

From Spanish 'corcho' ('cork, bark'), from Latin 'cortex' ('bark of a tree'). The verb 'to stopper' derives from the noun.

corcho Spanish cortex Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

General Vocabulary

External links

# cork

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /kɔrk/
**IPA (UK):** /kɔːk/

## Meanings
1. the buoyant bark of the cork oak, used to stopper bottles

## Examples
- He eased the cork from the bottle with a satisfying pop.

## Synonyms
- stopper
- plug
- bung

## Derived Forms
- corker
- corkage
- corkscrew
- corked

## Related Forms
- uncork

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: corcho
- Root: cortex

## Etymology
From Spanish 'corcho' ('cork, bark'), from Latin 'cortex' ('bark of a tree'). The verb 'to stopper' derives from the noun.

## AI Etymology
Cork is from Spanish 'corcho' ('cork, bark'), from Latin 'cortex' ('bark of a tree'). The verb 'to stopper' derives from the noun. The ancestry passes through Spanish corcho and Latin cortex. In present use as noun and verb, it means "the buoyant bark of the cork oak, used to stopper bottles", keeping the historical formation close to the word's ordinary semantic work. Related words include uncork; derived forms include corker, corkage, corkscrew, and corked. The surrounding word family keeps the same base visible in corker, corkage, corkscrew, corked, and uncork, showing how the headword belongs to a larger cluster rather than standing alone.

## Topics
- General Vocabulary

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