barrow
/ˈbæɹoʊ/noun
barrow is spelled B-A-R-R-O-W: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 2.4 times per million words in written English, the 17,587th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, barrow means “A hill” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of barrow is barrows.
How many letters and syllables are in barrow?
| Letters | 6: B-A-R-R-O-W |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.4 times per million words; the 17,587th 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 barrow?
Barrow appears 2.4 times per million words in written English, the 17,587th 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 barrow?
- UK /ˈbæɹəʊ/
- US /ˈbæɹoʊ/
- /ˈbɛɹoʊ/
Barrow 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: En-GB-barrow.ogg, En-us-ne-barrow.ogg, En-us-barrow.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with barrow
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: burrow.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with barrow?
9 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as barrow from its last stressed vowel (/æɹoʊ/):
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 barrow
- barrows plural
- barra
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does barrow mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
obsoleteA mountain.
- 2
UKA hill.
- 3
A mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves.
Meronym: dolmen
- 4
A heap of rubbish, attle, or other such refuse.
- 5
UKA small vehicle used to carry a load and pulled or pushed by hand.
- 6
A wicker case in which salt is put to drain.
- 7
A castrated boar.
- 8
A long sleeveless flannel garment for infants.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Barrow in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | tumulus , brouette , castrat |
| German | Grabhügel , Karren, Karre , Borg |
| Portuguese | túmulo, anta , carrinho de mão |
| Spanish | carretilla, carrucha |
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 barrow come from?
From Middle English berwe, bergh, from Old English beorg (“mountain, hill, mound, barrow, burial place”), from Proto-West Germanic *berg, from Proto-Germanic *bergaz (“hill, mountain”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰérǵʰos (“hill”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“to rise up, ascend; to be elevated, up high”). Doublet of berg and bergh.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).