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bath

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

4 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "bath", 4-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "bath" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "bath" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

bath is aEnglishnoun. It means: A tub or pool which is used for bathing: bathtub. Pronounced /bɑːθ/. It ranks #3,352 in English word frequency. Often confused with Bt and BH.

Key facts for bath
PropertyValue
Headwordbath
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/bɑːθ/
Letters4
Frequency rank#3,352
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of bath in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for bath is 4 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /bɑːθ/. Corpus data places it at rank #3,352 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 5 documented wrong-spelling variants for bath, with forms such as "abth", "bathh", and "batth". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Bt", "BH", "but", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₁- Proto-Germanic *baþą Proto-West Germanic *baþ Old English bæþ Middle English bath English bath From Middle English bath, baþ, from Old English bæþ (“bath”), from Proto-West Germanic *baþ, from Proto-Germanic *baþą … Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is bath, spelled B-A-T-H, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    A tub or pool which is used for bathing: bathtub.
  2. 2
    A building or area where bathing occurs.
  3. 3
    Clipping of bathroom.
  4. 4
    The act of bathing; an instance of this; the taking of a bath.
  5. 5
    Specifically, bathing by immersing the body in water, rather than through other means, or an instance of this.
  6. 6
    An act of immersing the body in a specified substance, especially for hygiene, pleasure, or wellness, or a facility for this: e.g. mud bath, steam bath.
  7. 7
    The body of liquid one bathes in.
  8. 8
    A substance or preparation in which something is immersed.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₁- Proto-Germanic *baþą Proto-West Germanic *baþ Old English bæþ Middle English bath English bath From Middle English bath, baþ, from Old English bæþ (“bath”), from Proto-West Germanic *baþ, from Proto-Germanic *baþą (“bath”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₁- (“to warm”). Corresponding inherited verbs are beath and bathe. Cognate with Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, and Swedish bad (“bath”), Faroese and Icelandic bað (“bath”), German Bad (“bath”).

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: abth,bathh,batth,bbath,btah

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for bath

Misspelling Variants of "bath"

abth4bathh5batth5bbath5btah4
Misspelling Variants of "bath"

Frequency rank: #3,352 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "bath"?
"bath" is spelled B-A-T-H. The IPA pronunciation is /bɑːθ/.
What does "bath" mean?
As a noun, "bath" means: A tub or pool which is used for bathing: bathtub.
What words are commonly confused with "bath"?
"bath" is commonly confused with "Bt", "BH", "but". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "bath"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "bath" is /bɑːθ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "bath"?
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₁- Proto-Germanic *baþą Proto-West Germanic *baþ Old English bæþ Middle English bath English bath From Middle English bath, baþ, from Old English bæþ (“bath”), from Proto-West Germanic *baþ, from Proto-Germa... See the full etymology section above for more details.
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Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter B in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.