boa
/ˈboʊ.ə/noun
boa is spelled B-O-A: 3 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.5 times per million words in written English, the 22,965th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, boa means “Any of a group of large American snakes, of the genus Boa, subfamily Boinae, or family Boidae, including the boa constrictor and the emperor boa of…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of boa is boas; Wiktionary also lists boæ (obsolete).
How many letters and syllables are in boa?
| Letters | 3: B-O-A |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.5 times per million words; the 22,965th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is boa?
Boa appears 1.5 times per million words in written English, the 22,965th 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 boa?
- UK /ˈbəʊ.ə/
- UK /bɔː/
- US /ˈboʊ.ə/
Boa has 2 syllables (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-boa.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with boa?
7 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as boa from its last stressed vowel (/oʊə/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: bao, oba.
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 boa
- boas plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does boa mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Any of a group of large American snakes, of the genus Boa, subfamily Boinae, or family Boidae, including the boa constrictor and the emperor boa of Mexico.
- 2
A type of long scarf; typically made from synthetic or real feathers (or occasionally fur), and usually worn by being draped across the shoulders with the ends hanging low, sometimes also with a loop around the neck.
noun
- 1
A member of a Bwa-speaking ethnic group of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
noun
- 1
Abbreviation of basin of attraction; the gravitational center of a supercluster of galaxies; a Great Attractor.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Boa in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense snake:
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 boa come from?
From Middle English boa, from Latin boa (“large snake”), a species of serpent mentioned in Pliny's Naturalis Historia (Natural History). The scarf was named attributively, for its resemblance to the snake when worn.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).