# bast

> English word · Noun · IPA /bɑːst/ · frequency rank #47,486

## Definitions
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.

## Etymology
From Middle English bast, from Old English bæst (“bast, inner bark of trees from which ropes were made”), from Proto-West Germanic *bast, from Proto-Germanic *bastaz (“bast, rope”) (compare the Swedish bast, Dutch bast, German Bast), perhaps an alteration of Proto-Indo-European *bʰask-, *bʰasḱ- (“bundle”) (compare Middle Irish basc (“necklace”), Latin fascis (“bundle”), Albanian bashkë (“tied, linked”)).

## Easily confused with
- **BS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bast-vs-bs)
- **Bt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bast-vs-bt)
- **but** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bast-vs-but)
- **bit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bast-vs-bit)
- **bus** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bast-vs-bus)
- **bet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bast-vs-bet)
- **bay** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bast-vs-bay)
- **bat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bast-vs-bat)
- **bot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bast-vs-bot)
- **bis** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bast-vs-bis)
- **BTS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bast-vs-bts)
- **BCS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bast-vs-bcs)
- **BDS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bast-vs-bds)
- **BBS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bast-vs-bbs)
- **BSA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bast-vs-bsa)
- **bes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bast-vs-bes)
- **baz** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bast-vs-baz)
- **bps** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bast-vs-bps)
- **BLS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bast-vs-bls)
- **BMT** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bast-vs-bmt)

## Common misspellings (5)
`abst`, `basst`, `bastt`, `bbast`, `bsat`

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