bauble
[ˈbɔːbəɫ]
"bauble" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bauble” is an uncommon English word, ranked #67,241 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #67,241
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A cheap showy ornament or piece of jewellery; a gewgaw.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | bauble |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [ˈbɔːbəɫ] |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #67,241 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “bauble” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for bauble is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈbɔːbəɫ]. Corpus data places it at rank #67,241 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
bauble doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English bable, babel, babull, babulle, from Old French babel, baubel (“trinket, child's toy”), most likely a reduplication of bel, ultimately from Latin bellus (“pretty”). The correct English form is bauble, spelled B-A-U-B-L-E.
Definition
- 1A cheap showy ornament or piece of jewellery; a gewgaw.
- 2Anything trivial and worthless.
- 3A small shiny spherical decoration, commonly put on Christmas trees.
- 4A club or sceptre carried by a jester.
Etymology
From Middle English bable, babel, babull, babulle, from Old French babel, baubel (“trinket, child's toy”), most likely a reduplication of bel, ultimately from Latin bellus (“pretty”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “bauble”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-A-U-B-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ˈbɔːbəɫ] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.