aba
/əˈbɑ/noun
aba is spelled A-B-A: 3 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 2.1 times per million words in written English, the 19,077th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data, counting Aba, the name). As a noun, aba means “A coarse, often striped, felted fabric from the Middle East, woven from goat or camel hair” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of aba is abas.
How many letters and syllables are in aba?
| Letters | 3: A-B-A |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.1 times per million words; the 19,077th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is aba?
Aba appears 2.1 times per million words in written English, the 19,077th most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes Aba, the name.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce aba?
- UK /əˈbɑː/
- US /əˈbɑ/
As a noun (“An altazimuth used for astronomy on either land or water”): /ˈæ.bə/.
Aba has 3 syllables (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-aba.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-aba2.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with aba
Also written: abba.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with aba?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as aba from its last stressed vowel (/ɑ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: baa.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of aba
- abas plural
- abba
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does aba mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A coarse, often striped, felted fabric from the Middle East, woven from goat or camel hair.
- 2
A loose-fitting sleeveless garment, made from aba or silk, worn by Arabs.
- 3
An outer garment made of the above, very simple in form, worn by the Arabs of the desert. The illustration shows such an aba, made of two breadths of stuff sewed together to make an oblong about four by nine feet.
- 4
Such a garment that is specific to women.
Holonym: hijab
- 5
An altazimuth used for astronomy on either land or water.
- 6
An electric fish of species Gymnarchus niloticus (frankfish, freshwater rat-tail, African knifefish), found in swamps, lakes and rivers in Africa.
noun
- 1
Initialism of applied behavior analysis.
- 2
Initialism of abscisic acid, a plant hormone.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Aba in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense fish:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | Großnilhecht |
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 aba come from?
Borrowed from Arabic عَبَاءَة (ʕabāʔa). Compare abaya.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).