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PlainSpell

birth

/bɜɹθ/noun, adjective, verb

birth is spelled B-I-R-T-H: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 59 times per million words in written English, the 1,758th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “berth vs birth” about 170 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, birth means “The process of childbearing; the beginning of life; the emergence of a human baby or other viviparous animal offspring from the mother's body into…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of birth is births.

How many letters and syllables are in birth?

Letters5: B-I-R-T-H
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing59 times per million words; the 1,758th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 birth?

Birth appears 59 times per million words in written English, the 1,758th 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 birth?

  • UK /bɜːθ/
  • UK /bɜːð/
  • US /bɜɹθ/

Birth 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)-Vealhurl-berth.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-birth.wav, En-us-birth.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with birth

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

berth vs birth170 G

Sounds like: berth (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Also written: berth.

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with birth?

8 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as birth from its last stressed vowel (/ɜɹθ/):

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 birth

  • births plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • birthing participle, present
  • birthed participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does birth mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The process of childbearing; the beginning of life; the emergence of a human baby or other viviparous animal offspring from the mother's body into the environment.

  2. 2

    An instance of childbirth.

    Intersex babies account for roughly one per cent of all births.

  3. 3

    A beginning or start; a point of origin.

    the birth of an empire

  4. 4

    The circumstances of one's background, ancestry, or upbringing.

    He was of noble birth, but fortune had not favored him.

  5. 5

    That which is born.

adjective

  1. 1

    A familial relationship established by childbirth.

    Her birth father left when she was a baby; she was raised by her mother and stepfather.

verb

  1. 1

    To bear or give birth to (a child).

  2. 2

    To produce, give rise to.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Birth in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchnaissance (process of childbearing; beginning of life), accouchement (instance of childbirth), accoucher (to give birth (to))
GermanGeburt (process of childbearing; beginning of life), entbinden (to give birth (to)), Abstammung (circumstances of one's background)
Portuguesenascimento (process of childbearing; beginning of life), parto (instance of childbirth), dar à luz, parir (to give birth (to)), origem (beginning or start; a point of origin)
Spanishnacimiento, nacencia, parto (process of childbearing; beginning of life), alumbramiento, parición (instance of childbirth), dar a luz (to give birth (to))

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 birth come from?

From Middle English birthe (1250), from earlier burthe, burde, from Old Norse burðr, byrd (Old Swedish byrth, Swedish börd), replacing Old English ġebyrd (rare variant byrþ), equivalent to bear + -th (thus a piecewise doublet of berth).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after birth