# board

> English word · Noun · IPA /bɔːd/ · frequency rank #567

## Definitions
1. A relatively long, wide and thin piece of any material, usually wood or similar, often for use in construction or furniture-making.
2. A device (e.g., switchboard) containing electrical switches and other controls and designed to control lights, sound, telephone connections, etc.
3. A flat surface with markings for playing a board game.
4. Short for blackboard, whiteboard, chessboard, surfboard, circuit board, message board (on the Internet), bulletin board, etc.
5. A committee that manages the business of an organization, e.g., a board of directors.
6. Regular meals in a place of lodging; the price paid for them.
7. The side of a ship.
8. The distance a sailing vessel runs between tacks when working to windward.
9. The wall that surrounds an ice hockey rink.
10. A long, narrow table, like that used in a medieval dining hall.
11. Paper made thick and stiff like a board, for book covers, etc.; pasteboard.
12. A level or stage having a particular two-dimensional layout.
13. The portion of the playing field where creatures or minions can be placed (or played, summoned, etc.).
14. A container for holding pre-dealt cards that is used to allow multiple sets of players to play the same cards.
15. A Philippine provincial or Uruguayan departmental assembly or council.

## Etymology
A wooden board
Board (duplicate bridge)
From Middle English boord, boorde, bord, bourd, burd, from Old English bord, from Proto-West Germanic *bord, from Proto-Germanic *burdą (“board, plank; edge; table”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰers- (“tip, top”) + *-dʰh₁eti or *bʰerH- (“to pierce; to strike”) + *-dʰh₁eti. The senses "food" and "council" are by metonymy from the sense "table."
Cognates
Cognate with Scots buird (“board; table”), Yola borde (“table”), West Frisian boerd (“board”), Dutch bord (“dish, plate; board, plank; sign”), boord (“border, boundary; bank, shore”), German Bord (“shelf”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish bord (“plank; table”), Elfdalian buord (“table”), Faroese and Icelandic borð (“board, plank; table”), Gothic *𐌱𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳 (*baurd, “board, plank”) (whence 𐍆𐍉𐍄𐌿𐌱𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳 (fōtubaurd, “footstool”).

## Easily confused with
- **bod** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/board-vs-bod)
- **bor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/board-vs-bor)
- **born** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/board-vs-born)
- **boat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/board-vs-boat)
- **bond** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/board-vs-bond)
- **bold** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/board-vs-bold)
- **brad** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/board-vs-brad)
- **bore** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/board-vs-bore)
- **Boyd** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/board-vs-boyd)
- **borg** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/board-vs-borg)
- **bora** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/board-vs-bora)
- **Boer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/board-vs-boer)
- **Boas** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/board-vs-boas)
- **Boro** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/board-vs-boro)
- **Bohr** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/board-vs-bohr)
- **brand** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/board-vs-brand)
- **broad** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/board-vs-broad)
- **bound** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/board-vs-bound)
- **boats** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/board-vs-boats)
- **bored** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/board-vs-bored)

## Common misspellings (7)
`baord`, `bboard`, `boadr`, `boardd`, `boarrd`, `borad`, `obard`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/board