abash
/əˈbæʃ/verb
abash is spelled A-B-A-S-H: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 95 million words in written English, the 313,259th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, abash means “To make ashamed; to embarrass; to destroy the self-possession of, as by exciting suddenly a consciousness of guilt, mistake, or inferiority; to…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in abash?
| Letters | 5: A-B-A-S-H |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 95 million words; the 313,259th 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 abash?
Abash appears about once in every 95 million words in written English, the 313,259th 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).
How do you pronounce abash?
- UK /əˈbæʃ/
- US /əˈbæʃ/
Abash has 2 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: En-us-abash.ogg, En-ca-abash.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with abash?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as abash from its last stressed vowel (/æʃ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: sabha, basha.
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 abash
- abashes present, singular, he/she/it
- abashing participle, present
- abashed participle, past
- abasse
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does abash mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To make ashamed; to embarrass; to destroy the self-possession of, as by exciting suddenly a consciousness of guilt, mistake, or inferiority; to disconcert; to discomfit.
- 2
obsoleteTo lose self-possession; to become ashamed.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Abash in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense to make ashamed, to embarrass:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | confondre |
| German | beschämen, peinlich berühren, mit Scham überziehen |
| Portuguese | envergonhar, confundir |
| Spanish | confundir, avergonzar, abochornar |
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 abash come from?
Attested from 1303, as Middle English abaisen, abaishen, abashen (“lose one's composure, be upset”), from the later 14th-century also transitive "to make ashamed, to perplex or embarrass"; from Anglo-Norman abaïss, from Middle French abair, abaisser (“lose one's composure, be startled, be stunned”), from Old French esbaïr, (French ébahir), from es- (“utterly”) + baïr (“to astonish”), from Medieval Latin *exbadō, from ex- (“out of”) + bado (“to gape, yawn”), an onomatopoeic word imitating a yawn, see also French badaud (“rubbernecker”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).