bahu

noun

"bahu" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“bahu” is uncommon English (frequency #88,092 among 4,121 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#88,092
frequency rank, English
4,121
“B” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A daughter-in-law or sister-in-law, especially one who lives with her husband's family when married.

Corpus desk

Index EN-bahu · bahu · English

bahu · rank #88,092 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #88,092
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,121
  • PHOTO-FINISH Bajan

Nearest frequency peer: Bajan (+1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “bahu”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “bahu” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for bahu
PropertyValue
Headwordbahu
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters4
Frequency rank#88,092
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “bahu” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).bahufalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “Bajan” (#88,093), “bagman” (#88,090), “Baptista” (#88,094). Among 4,121 “B” headwords, “bahu” is #88,092. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

bahu is uncommon English at frequency #88,092 among 4,121 “B” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A daughter-in-law or sister-in-law, especially one who lives with her husband's family when married.".

bahu has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Hindi बहू (bahū) / Urdu بَہُو (bahū), from Sanskrit वधू (vadhū́). The correct English form is bahu, spelled B-A-H-U.

Definition

  1. 1
    A daughter-in-law or sister-in-law, especially one who lives with her husband's family when married.

Etymology

Borrowed from Hindi बहू (bahū) / Urdu بَہُو (bahū), from Sanskrit वधू (vadhū́).

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "bahu"?
"bahu" is spelled B-A-H-U.
What does "bahu" mean?
As a noun, "bahu" means: A daughter-in-law or sister-in-law, especially one who lives with her husband's family when married.
What is the origin of the word "bahu"?
Borrowed from Hindi बहू (bahū) / Urdu بَہُو (bahū), from Sanskrit वधू (vadhū́). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "bahu", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list