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ban

UK /ˈbæn/verb, noun

ban is spelled B-A-N: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 35 times per million words in written English, the 2,725th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, ban means “To prohibit; to interdict; to proscribe; to forbid or block from participation” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in ban?

Letters3: B-A-N
Syllables1
In writing35 times per million words; the 2,725th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; 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 ban?

Ban appears 35 times per million words in written English, the 2,725th 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 ban?

  • UK /ˈbæn/
  • UK [ˈbæn]
  • British /ˈban/

Ban has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-ban.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with ban?

4 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as ban from its last stressed vowel (/æn/, British pronunciation):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: nab.

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 ban

  • bans present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • banning participle, present
  • banned participle, past
  • bani plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does ban mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To prohibit; to interdict; to proscribe; to forbid or block from participation.

    Bare feet are banned in this establishment.

  2. 2

    obsoleteTo summon; to call out.

  3. 3

    To anathematize; to pronounce an ecclesiastical curse upon; to place under a ban.

  4. 4

    To curse; to execrate.

  5. 5

    To curse; to utter curses or maledictions.

noun

  1. 1

    A prohibition.

  2. 2

    A public proclamation or edict; also, a summons by public proclamation, and in early use especially a summons to arms.

  3. 3

    The gathering of the (French) king’s vassals for war; the whole body of vassals assembled this way, or liable to be summoned; originally the same as arriere-ban, but distinct since the 16th century, following French usage–see arriere-ban.

    […] he hath sente abroade to assemble his van and arriere van; wherby, and with the reste of his forces, he prepareth him selfe to enter this countrey; […]

  4. 4

    obsoleteA curse or anathema.

  5. 5

    A pecuniary mulct or penalty laid upon a delinquent for offending against a ban, such as a mulct paid to a bishop by one guilty of sacrilege or other crimes.

  6. 6

    A subdivision of currency, equal to one hundredth of a Romanian leu.

  7. 7

    A subdivision of currency, equal to one hundredth of a Moldovan leu.

  8. 8

    A unit measuring information or entropy based on base-ten logarithms, rather than the base-two logarithms that define the bit.

  9. 9

    A title used in several states in central and south-eastern Europe between the 7th century and the 20th century.

noun

as BAN
  1. 1

    Initialism of British Approved Name.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Ban in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchinterdire, proscrire, bannir (forbid – see also forbid, prohibit, interdict), interdiction, prohibition (prohibition – see also prohibition)
Germanverbieten (forbid – see also forbid, prohibit, interdict), Verbot (prohibition – see also prohibition), Ban (a subdivision of currency), Banus (title used in several states in central and…)
Portugueseproibir, banir (forbid – see also forbid, prohibit, interdict), proibição (prohibition – see also prohibition)
Spanishvedar, banear (forbid – see also forbid, prohibit, interdict), vedamiento, baneo (prohibition – see also prohibition)

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 ban come from?

Inherited from Middle English bannen (“to summon; to banish; to curse”), partly from Old English bannan (“to summon, command, proclaim, call out”), from Proto-West Germanic *bannan; and partly from Old Norse banna (“to prohibit; to curse”), both from Proto-Germanic *bannaną (“to proclaim, to order; to summon; to ban; to curse, forbid”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰh₂-new-ti ~ bʰh₂-n̥w-énti, innovative nasal-infixed zero-grade athematic present of *bʰeh₂- (“to say”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after ban