bast
/bæst/noun
bast is spelled B-A-S-T: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 47,633rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, bast means “Inner bark of a tree from which rope is traditionally made” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of bast is basts.
How many letters and syllables are in bast?
| Letters | 4: B-A-S-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 3 million words; the 47,633rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
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 bast?
Bast appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 47,633rd 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 bast?
- UK /bɑːst/
- US /bæst/
Bast 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-bast.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with bast?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as bast from its last stressed vowel (/æst/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: bats, stab.
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 bast
- basts plural
- bass
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does bast mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Inner bark of a tree from which rope is traditionally made.
- 2
Fibre made from the phloem of certain plants (particularly the lime tree) and used for making ropes, cords and matting.
I thought I saw Him in the Long Walk there, by the bed of Nelly Roche, tending a fallen flower with a wisp of bast.
- 3
obsoleteBastardy, illegitimacy of birth.
adjective
- 1
obsoleteIllegitimate, born out of wedlock.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Bast in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense fibre made from the phloem of certain plants:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | Bast |
| Portuguese | entrecasca |
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 bast come from?
From Middle English bast, from Old English bæst (“bast, inner bark of trees from which ropes were made”), from Proto-West Germanic *bast (compare the Swedish bast, Dutch bast, German Bast), perhaps an alteration of Proto-Indo-European *bʰask-, *bʰasḱ- (“bundle”) (compare English basket, Middle Irish basc (“necklace”), Latin fascis (“bundle”), Albanian bashkë (“tied, linked”)), though this is likely a substrate word and/or Wanderwort.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).