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PlainSpell

fib

/fɪb/noun, verb

fib is a noun meaning “A lie, especially one that is more or less inconsequential” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled F-I-B and has one syllable, and it appears about once in every 2 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of fib is fibs.

What does fib mean?

noun

  1. 1

    informalA lie, especially one that is more or less inconsequential.

  2. 2

    informalrareA liar.

  3. 3

    informalThe fibula.

  4. 4

    A kind of experimental poem where the number of syllables in each line is the next succeeding Fibonacci number.

verb

  1. 1

    informalTo lie, especially more or less inconsequentially.

  2. 2

    archaicTo punch, especially a series of punches in rapid succession; to beat; to hit; to strike.

noun

as FIB
  1. 1

    Initialism of focused ion beam.

  2. 2

    derogatoryoffensiveInitialism of fucking Illinois bastard.

  3. 3

    Initialism of flying inflatable boat.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you pronounce fib?

  • /fɪb/

Fib 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)-Vealhurl-fib.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of fib

  • fibs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • fibbing participle, present
  • fibbed participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How common is fib?

Fib appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 43,663rd 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).

Fib in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchbaratin, bobard, craque (a more or less inconsequential lie), baratiner, bobarder (to tell a more or less inconsequential lie)
GermanFlunkerei, Schwindelei, Fabulation, Fantasiegeschichte (a more or less inconsequential lie), fabulieren, flunkern (to tell a more or less inconsequential lie)
Portuguesementirinha, peta (a more or less inconsequential lie)
Spanishmilonga, patraña, trola, mentirijilla, mentirilla, mentirita (a more or less inconsequential lie)

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 fib come from?

Unknown. Probably from fable; compare fible-fable (“nonsense”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).