bask
/bæsk/verb, noun
bask is spelled B-A-S-K: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 31,549th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “bask vs basque” about 40 times a month (Google, United States). As a verb, bask means “To bathe in warmth; to be exposed to pleasant heat” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in bask?
| Letters | 4: B-A-S-K |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 31,549th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| 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 bask?
Bask appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 31,549th 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 bask?
- UK /bɑːsk/
- US /bæsk/
Bask 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-bask.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with bask
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: basque (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 bask?
8 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as bask from its last stressed vowel (/æsk/):
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 bask
- basks present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- basking participle, present
- basked participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does bask mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To bathe in warmth; to be exposed to pleasant heat.
to bask in the sun
- 2
To expose oneself to heat, especially sunlight, in order to raise body temperature, as a form of thermoregulation.
My lizard likes to spend his days basking on the stone near the lamp.
- 3
To take great pleasure or satisfaction; to feel warmth or happiness.
to bask in someone’s favour
noun
- 1
The act of bathing in warmth.
Most cats enjoy a bask in the sunshine.
- 2
A group of crocodiles.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Bask in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | lézarder, baigner |
| Portuguese | tomar sol , gozar, desfrutar |
| Spanish | lagartear |
| German | genießen |
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 bask come from?
Inherited from Middle English basken, from Old Norse baðask (“to take a bath”, literally “to bathe oneself”), mediopassive form from underlying baða (“to bathe”) + sik (“oneself”), from Proto-Germanic *baþōną and *sek. Doublet of English bathe.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).