backyard
/bækˈjɑːd/noun
backyard is spelled B-A-C-K-Y-A-R-D: 8 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 7.4 times per million words in written English, the 8,669th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “back yard vs backyard” about 210 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, backyard means “A yard to the rear of a house or similar residence” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of backyard is backyards.
How many letters and syllables are in backyard?
| Letters | 8: B-A-C-K-Y-A-R-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 7.4 times per million words; the 8,669th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with |
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is backyard?
Backyard appears 7.4 times per million words in written English, the 8,669th 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 backyard?
- UK /bækˈjɑːd/
Backyard 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-backyard.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with backyard
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: back yard (one word or two).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with backyard?
4 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as backyard from its last stressed vowel (/ɑd/, British pronunciation):
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 backyard
- backyards plural
- back-yard
- back yard
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does backyard mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
AustraliaCanadaUSA yard to the rear of a house or similar residence.
- 2
AustraliaCanadaUScolloquialA person's neighborhood, or an area nearby to a person's usual residence or place of work and where the person is likely to go.
- 3
AustraliaCanadaUScolloquialAn area nearby to a country or other jurisdiction's legal boundaries, particularly an area in which the country feels it has an interest.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Backyard in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense yard to the rear of a house:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | arrière-cour |
| German | Hinterhof |
| Portuguese | quintal |
| Spanish | traspatio, patio trasero, jardín trasero, patio de atrás |
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 backyard come from?
From back + yard.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).