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blood

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

5 characters

Language

English

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "blood", 5-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "blood" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "blood" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

blood is aEnglishnoun. It means: A vital liquid flowing in the bodies of many types of animals that usually conveys nutrients and oxygen. In vertebrates, it is colored red by hemoglobin, is conveyed by arteries and veins, is pumpe... Pronounced /blʌd/. It ranks #823 in English word frequency. Often confused with boo and bod.

Key facts for blood
PropertyValue
Headwordblood
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/blʌd/
Letters5
Frequency rank#823
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of blood in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for blood is 5 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /blʌd/. Corpus data places it at rank #823 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 15 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 7 documented wrong-spelling variants for blood, with forms such as "bblood", "bllood", and "blod". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "boo", "bod", "book", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃-? Proto-Germanic *blōþą Proto-West Germanic *blōd Old English blōd Middle English blood English blood From Middle English blood, from Old English blōd, from Proto-West Germanic *blōd, from Proto-Germanic *blōþą, po… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is blood, spelled B-L-O-O-D, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    A vital liquid flowing in the bodies of many types of animals that usually conveys nutrients and oxygen. In vertebrates, it is colored red by hemoglobin, is conveyed by arteries and veins, is pumped by the heart and is usually generated in bone marrow.
  2. 2
    A family relationship due to birth, such as that between siblings; contrasted with relationships due to marriage or adoption. See blood relative, blood relation.
  3. 3
    One of the four humours in the human body.
  4. 4
    The endometrial lining as it is shed in menstruation; menstrual fluid or period blood.
  5. 5
    A blood test or blood sample.
  6. 6
    The sap or juice which flows in or from plants.
  7. 7
    The juice of anything, especially if red.
  8. 8
    A temper of mind; a disposition; a mood.
  9. 9
    A lively, showy man; a rake; a dandy.
  10. 10
    A blood horse, one of good pedigree.
  11. 11
    Bloodshed.
  12. 12
    A friend or acquaintance, especially one who is black and male.
  13. 13
    Alternative letter-case form of Blood (“a member of a certain gang”).
  14. 14
    Alternative form of blud (“an informal address to a male.”).
  15. 15
    Lean, especially that is red.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃-? Proto-Germanic *blōþą Proto-West Germanic *blōd Old English blōd Middle English blood English blood From Middle English blood, from Old English blōd, from Proto-West Germanic *blōd, from Proto-Germanic *blōþą, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- ("to swell") + -ó- (thematic vowel) + -to (nominalizer), i.e. "that which bursts out". Cognate with Scots blude, bluid (“blood”), North Frisian blud, blödj, Blör (“blood”), Saterland Frisian Bloud (“blood”), West Frisian bloed (“blood”), Cimbrian pluat, pluut (“blood”), Dutch bloed (“blood”), German Blut (“blood”), German Low German Blood, Bloot (“blood”), Luxembourgish Blutt (“blood”), Vilamovian błüt (“blood”), Yiddish בלוט (blut, “blood”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish blod (“blood”), Faroese and Icelandic blóð (“blood”), Crimean Gothic plut (“blood”), Gothic 𐌱𐌻𐍉𐌸 (blōþ, “blood”).

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: bblood,bllood,blod,blodo,bloodd,bolod,lbood

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for blood

Misspelling Variants of "blood"

bblood6bllood6blod4blodo5bloodd6bolod5lbood5
Misspelling Variants of "blood"

Frequency rank: #823 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "blood"?
"blood" is spelled B-L-O-O-D. The IPA pronunciation is /blʌd/.
What does "blood" mean?
As a noun, "blood" means: A vital liquid flowing in the bodies of many types of animals that usually conveys nutrients and oxygen. In vertebrates, it is colored red by hemoglobin, is conveyed by arteries and veins, is pumpe...
What words are commonly confused with "blood"?
"blood" is commonly confused with "boo", "bod", "book". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "blood"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "blood" is /blʌd/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "blood"?
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃-? Proto-Germanic *blōþą Proto-West Germanic *blōd Old English blōd Middle English blood English blood From Middle English blood, from Old English blōd, from Proto-West Germanic *blōd, from Proto-Germanic ... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter B in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.