bawl
/bɔːl/verb, noun
bawl is spelled B-A-W-L: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 65,114th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, bawl means “To shout or utter in a loud and intense manner” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in bawl?
| Letters | 4: B-A-W-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 5 million words; the 65,114th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with |
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 bawl?
Bawl appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 65,114th 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 bawl?
- UK /bɔːl/
- British /boːl/
- /bɔl/
Bawl 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)-Vininn126-bawl.wav, En-au-ball.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with bawl
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: ball (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with bawl?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as bawl from its last stressed vowel (/ɔl/, British pronunciation):
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 bawl
- bawls present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- bawling participle, present
- bawled participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does bawl mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To shout or utter in a loud and intense manner.
commanders bawling
- 2
To wail; to give out a blaring cry.
children bawling
- 3
To weep profusely.
children bawling
noun
- 1
A loud, intense shouting or wailing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Bawl in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | hurler |
| German | schreien, brüllen, grölen , heulen , Grölen |
| Spanish | gritar, gritonear , plañir, llantear (disused) , alarido, grito |
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 bawl come from?
From Middle English baulen, from Old Norse baula (“to bellow”) and/or Medieval Latin baulō (“to bark”), both from Proto-Germanic *bau- (“to roar”), conflated with Proto-Germanic *bellaną, *ballijaną, *buljaną (“to shout, low, roar”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to sound, roar”). Cognate with Faroese belja (“to low”), Icelandic baula (“to moo, low”), Swedish böla (“to bellow, low”). More at bell.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).