barmy
/ˈbɑɹmi/obsolete
barmy is spelled B-A-R-M-Y: 5 letters. It appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 65,114th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, barmy means “Containing, covered with, or pertaining to barm (“foam rising upon beer or other malt liquors when fermenting, used as leaven in brewing and making…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in barmy?
| Letters | 5: B-A-R-M-Y |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 5 million words; the 65,114th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| 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); 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 barmy?
Barmy appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 65,114th 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 barmy?
- UK /ˈbɑːmi/
- US /ˈbɑɹmi/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-barmy.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with barmy
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: balmy (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with barmy?
2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as barmy from its last stressed vowel (/ɑɹmi/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: ambry.
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 barmy
- barmier comparative
- barmiest superlative
- barmi
- barmie
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does barmy mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
archaicContaining, covered with, or pertaining to barm (“foam rising upon beer or other malt liquors when fermenting, used as leaven in brewing and making bread”).
- 2
archaicBubbling with activity or excitement; active, excited.
- 3
IrelandUKarchaicinformalCrazy, mad; also, eccentric, odd, strange.
- 4
IrelandUKarchaicinformalVery foolish.
noun
- 1
IrelandUKarchaicinformalbar mitzvah
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does barmy come from?
From barm (“foam rising upon beer or other malt liquors when fermenting, and used as leaven”) + -y (suffix meaning ‘having the quality of’ forming adjectives). Barm is derived from Middle English berm, berme (“foam rising upon ale or beer fermenting; leaven, yeast; foam or head of beer produced by pouring”) [and other forms], from Old English beorma (“foam or head of beer; leaven, yeast”), from Proto-West Germanic *bermō (“barm; yeast”); further etymology uncertain, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrewh₁- (“to boil; to brew”) or *gʷʰer- (“warm; hot”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).