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barb

/bɑː(ɹ)b/noun, verb

barb is spelled B-A-R-B: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.0 times per million words in written English, the 19,336th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, barb means “The point that stands backward in an arrow, fishhook, etc., to prevent it from being easily extracted. Hence: Anything which stands out with a sharp…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of barb is barbs.

How many letters and syllables are in barb?

Letters4: B-A-R-B
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing2.0 times per million words; the 19,336th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in 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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is barb?

Barb appears 2.0 times per million words in written English, the 19,336th 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 barb?

  • /bɑː(ɹ)b/

Barb has one syllable (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-barb.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with barb?

2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as barb from its last stressed vowel (/ɑɹb/):

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 barb

  • barbs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • barbing participle, present
  • barbed participle, past

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

What does barb mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    The point that stands backward in an arrow, fishhook, etc., to prevent it from being easily extracted. Hence: Anything which stands out with a sharp point obliquely or crosswise to something else.

  2. 2

    A hurtful or disparaging remark.

    to trade barbs

  3. 3

    A beard, or that which resembles it, or grows in the place of it.

  4. 4

    A barbel on a fish's face.

  5. 5

    One of the many side branches of a feather, which collectively constitute the vane.

  6. 6

    Any of various species of freshwater carp-like fish that have barbels and belong to the cyprinid family.

  7. 7

    USThe sciaenid fish Menticirrhus americanus, found along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States.

  8. 8

    A hair or bristle ending in a double hook.

  9. 9

    The Barbary horse, a superior breed introduced from Barbary into Spain by the Moors.

  10. 10

    A blackish or dun variety of pigeon, originally brought from Barbary.

  11. 11

    informalA barbiturate.

  12. 12

    Armor for a horse.

verb

  1. 1

    To furnish with barbs, or with that which will hold or hurt like barbs, as an arrow, fishhook, spear, etc.

  2. 2

    To cut (hair).

  3. 3

    obsoleteTo shave or dress the beard of.

  4. 4

    obsoleteTo clip; to mow.

  5. 5

    To cover a horse in armor.

noun

as Barb
  1. 1

    slangA fan of American rapper and singer Nicki Minaj.

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

Barb in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchardillon (point that stands backward in an arrow…), barbe (one of the side branches of a feather)
GermanWiderhaken (point that stands backward in an arrow…), Federast (one of the side branches of a feather)
Portuguesefarpa (point that stands backward in an arrow…), barba (one of the side branches of a feather), betara, papa-terra (fish of the cyprinid family)
Spanishlengüeta, pincho, púa, puya (point that stands backward in an arrow…), barba (one of the side branches of a feather), pulla (hurtful remark)

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 barb come from?

From Middle English barbe, from Middle French barbe, from Old French barbe (“beard, beard-like element”). Doublet of beard.

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

What to look up after barb