# basin

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈbeɪs(ə)n/ · frequency rank #6,210

## Definitions
1. A wide bowl for washing, sometimes affixed to a wall.
2. A shallow bowl used for a single serving of a drink or liquidy food.
3. A depression, natural or artificial, containing water.
4. An area of land from which water drains into a common outlet; drainage basin.
5. A shallow depression in a rock formation, such as an area of down-folded rock that has accumulated a thick layer of sediments, or an area scooped out by water erosion.

## Etymology
Etymology tree
Proto-Celtic *baskis
Gaulish *baskisder.
Vulgar Latin bacca
Vulgar Latin *baccinum
Old French bacinbor.
Middle English basyn
English basin
From Middle English basyn, from Old French bacin, from Vulgar Latin *baccinum (“wide bowl”).

## Easily confused with
- **bin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/basin-vs-bin)
- **bass** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/basin-vs-bass)
- **bein** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/basin-vs-bein)
- **bask** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/basin-vs-bask)
- **Basu** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/basin-vs-basu)
- **brin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/basin-vs-brin)
- **bast** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/basin-vs-bast)
- **brain** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/basin-vs-brain)
- **begin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/basin-vs-begin)
- **basis** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/basin-vs-basis)
- **baton** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/basin-vs-baton)
- **bison** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/basin-vs-bison)
- **Busan** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/basin-vs-busan)
- **Benin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/basin-vs-benin)
- **Basra** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/basin-vs-basra)
- **boson** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/basin-vs-boson)
- **basins** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/basin-vs-basins)
- **basing** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/basin-vs-basing)
- **Baskin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/basin-vs-baskin)
- **bastion** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/basin-vs-bastion)

## Common misspellings (7)
`absin`, `baisn`, `basinn`, `basni`, `bassin`, `bbasin`, `bsain`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/basin