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bitch

/bɪt͡ʃ/noun, verb

bitch is spelled B-I-T-C-H: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 58 times per million words in written English, the 1,793rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, bitch means “A female dog or other canine, particularly a recent mother” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of bitch is bitches.

How many letters and syllables are in bitch?

Letters5: B-I-T-C-H
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing58 times per million words; the 1,793rd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

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).

How common is bitch?

Bitch appears 58 times per million words in written English, the 1,793rd 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 bitch?

  • /bɪt͡ʃ/
  • /bɪʃ/

Bitch 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-bitch.ogg, En-uk-bitch.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with bitch

Also written: biatch.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Forms of bitch

  • bitches plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • betch
  • biatch
  • biotch
  • beatch
  • beotch
  • bih
  • binch
  • bish
  • biyatch
  • biyotch
  • beeyatch
  • beeyotch
  • bizatch
  • biz-atch
  • biznatch

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

What does bitch mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A female dog or other canine, particularly a recent mother.

    My bitch just had puppies; they're so cute!

  2. 2

    archaicoffensiveA promiscuous woman, slut, whore.

  3. 3

    offensivevulgarA despicable or disagreeable, aggressive person, usually a woman.

    Near-synonyms: cunt (vulgar, offensive); see also Thesaurus:jerk

  4. 4

    slangvulgarA woman in general.

  5. 5

    offensivevulgarA man considered soft, effeminate, weak, timid or pathetic in some way

  6. 6

    derogatoryoffensivevulgarAn obviously gay man.

  7. 7

    offensivevulgarA submissive person who does what others want; (prison slang) a man forced or coerced into a homosexual relationship.

    Dude, don't be a bitch. Assert yourself.

  8. 8

    colloquialvulgarA complaint, especially when the complaint is unjustified.

verb

  1. 1

    vulgarTo behave or act as a bitch; especially, to complain excessively.

  2. 2

    vulgarTo complain or criticize spitefully, often for the sake of complaining rather than in order to have the problem corrected.

    All you ever do is bitch about the food I cook for you!

  3. 3

    vulgarTo spoil, to ruin.

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

How do you abbreviate bitch?

Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of bitch: BMW, btc.

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

Bitch in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchchienne, louve, renarde (female canine), garce, rosse, salope (disagreeable, aggressive person, usually female)
GermanFähe, Hündin, Wölfin, Füchsin, Kojotin, Schakalin (jackal) (female canine)
Portuguesecadela, cachorra, loba, bucica (female canine), badalhoca, porca (promiscuous woman)
Spanishperra, zorra, loba (female canine), arpía (disagreeable, aggressive person, usually female), quejarse (complain (about something) spitefully)

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 bitch come from?

From Middle English biche, bicche, from Old English biċċe, from Proto-West Germanic *bikkjā, from Proto-Germanic *bikjǭ (“female dog”) (compare Norwegian bikkje (“dog, bitch”), Old Danish bikke (“bitch”)), from Proto-Germanic *bikjaną (“to thrust, attack”) (compare Old Norse bikkja (“to plunge into water”), Dutch bikken (“to hack”)). Related to bicker.

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

What to look up after bitch