pooch
/puːt͡ʃ/noun, verb
pooch is a noun meaning “A dog” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled P-O-O-C-H and has one syllable, and it appears about once in every 1 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of pooch is pooches.
What does pooch mean?
noun
- 1
informalA dog.
She’s just been playing with the pooch ever since they got in the field.
- 2
A dog of mixed breed; a mongrel.
- 3
informalA bulge, an enlarged part.
There's a pooch in the plastic where it got too hot.
- 4
informalA distended or swelled condition.
Her left sleeve has more pooch at the shoulder than the right.
- 5
informalThe lower belly region; often in reference to the stubborn fat stored in the abdominal area.
See also: paunch
verb
- 1
informalTo distend, to swell or extend beyond normal limits; usually used with out.
Inflate that tire too much and the tube may pooch out of the cut in the sidewall.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce pooch?
- /puːt͡ʃ/
Pooch 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: En-au-pooch.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of pooch
- pooches plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- pooching participle, present
- pooched participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is pooch?
Pooch appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 30,017th 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).
Pooch in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | clébard, cabot, sac à puces , bâtard |
| German | Köter, Straßenköter, Töle , Promenadenmischung |
| Portuguese | totó |
| Spanish | pichicho |
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 pooch come from?
Of uncertain origin. One (unsubstantiated) conjecture is that the word comes from Putzi, a common German name given to lapdogs. The name Putzi is possibly formed from German Putz + -i, influenced by German putzig (“funny, cute, small”, adjective).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).