Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

took

/tʊk/

Word Rarity Common

Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.51 in modern English

Syllables: took
IPA: /tʊk/

8

Scrabble Score

4

Letters

1

Syllables

3

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

simple past of take

verb

past participle of take

Colloquial

name

Example Sentences

"When Timothy and Julia hurried up the staircase to the bedroom floor, where a considerable commotion was taking place, Tim took Barry Leach with him. He had him gripped firmly by the arm, since he felt it was not safe to let him loose, and he had no immediate idea what to do with him."
"A gracious perſon ; But yet I cannot loue him : / He might have tooke his anſwer long ago"
""There you're right," said Bill, "especially as it was all in paper, and he might have took care of it so very easy, by folding it up into a small parcel.""
"Linda: It was being there — if you could have took the work home I would have been alright, but being there, people watching over you, you know, you couldn't do anything wrong."

Etymology

Variant of Tooke.

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /tʊk/
British English: /tʊk/

Usage

Colloquial

Inflected Forms

Tooks (plural)

Rhymes With

look book cook hook shook brooke brook undertook crook cooke nook rook

Questions

How do you pronounce took?: The recorded pronunciation is /tʊk/.
What does took mean?: simple past of take
Where does took come from?: Variant of Tooke.

How to pronounce took

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “took”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/tʊk/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “took”.
Repeat and practice — Say “took” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.