bathe
/beɪð/verb, noun
bathe is spelled B-A-T-H-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.7 times per million words in written English, the 21,798th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “bath vs bathe” about 1,000 times a month (Google, United States). As a verb, bathe means “To clean oneself by immersion in water or using water; to take a bath, have a bath” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in bathe?
| Letters | 5: B-A-T-H-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.7 times per million words; the 21,798th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| 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); 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 bathe?
Bathe appears 1.7 times per million words in written English, the 21,798th 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 bathe?
- /beɪð/
- /beð/
- /bɑð/
Bathe 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-bathe.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with bathe
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with bathe?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as bathe.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: beath.
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 bathe
- bathes present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- bathing participle, present
- bathed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does bathe mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To clean oneself by immersion in water or using water; to take a bath, have a bath.
- 2
To immerse oneself, or part of the body, in water for pleasure or refreshment; to swim.
- 3
To clean a person by immersion in water or using water; to give someone a bath.
We bathe our baby before going to bed; other parents do it in the morning if they have time.
- 4
To apply water or other liquid to; to suffuse or cover with liquid.
She bathed her eyes with liquid to remove the stinging chemical.
- 5
To cover or surround.
The room was bathed in moonlight.
- 6
To sunbathe.
The women bathed in the sun.
noun
- 1
UKcolloquialThe act of swimming or bathing, especially in the sea, a lake, or a river; a swimming bath.
I'm going to have a midnight bathe tonight.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Bathe in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | prendre un bain , se baigner , faire prendre un bain, baigner , baignade, bain |
| German | sich baden, sich waschen , baden , Bad , waschen |
| Portuguese | banhar |
| Spanish | bañarse , bañar , lavar |
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 bathe come from?
From Middle English bathen, from Old English baþian (“to bathe, wash”), from Proto-West Germanic *baþōn, from Proto-Germanic *baþōną (“to bathe”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₁- (“to warm”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian boadje (“to bathe”), Dutch baden (“to bathe”), German Low German baden (“to bathe”), German baden (“to bathe”), Danish bade (“to bathe”), Swedish bada (“to bathe”), Icelandic baða (“to bathe”). More at bath. Compare also bask.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).