# boat

> English word · Noun · IPA /bəʊt/ · frequency rank #1,986

## Definitions
1. A craft used for transportation of goods, fishing, racing, recreational cruising, or military use on or in the water, propelled by oars or outboard motor or inboard motor or by wind.
2. A full house.
3. A conveyance, utensil, or dish somewhat resembling a boat in shape.
4. A large and heavy car; the term connotes wasteful size.
5. One of two possible conformations of cyclohexane rings (the other being chair), shaped roughly like a boat.
6. The refugee boats arriving in Australian waters, and by extension, refugees generally.
7. In Conway’s Game of Life, a particular still life consisting of a dead cell surrounded by five living cells.
8. Alternative form of BOAT.

## Etymology
From Middle English bot, boot, boet, boyt (“boat”), from Old English bāt (“boat”), from Proto-West Germanic *bait, from Proto-Germanic *baitaz, *baitą (“boat, small ship”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- (“to break, split”) (whence also fissure via Latin). Cognate with Old Norse beit (“boat”), Middle Dutch beitel (“little boat”).
Old Norse bátr (whence Icelandic bátur, Norwegian båt, Danish båd), Dutch boot, German Boot, Occitan batèl and French bateau are all ultimately borrowings from the Old English word.
Compare typologically ship << Proto-Indo-European *skey-; Russian долблёнка (dolbljónka) (< долби́ть (dolbítʹ)), Russian чёлн (čoln) (akin to коло́ть (kolótʹ)).

## Easily confused with
- **Bt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boat-vs-bt)
- **but** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boat-vs-but)
- **boy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boat-vs-boy)
- **box** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boat-vs-box)
- **bob** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boat-vs-bob)
- **bow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boat-vs-bow)
- **boo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boat-vs-boo)
- **bra** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boat-vs-bra)
- **bot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boat-vs-bot)
- **BON** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boat-vs-bon)
- **Boi** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boat-vs-boi)
- **bop** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boat-vs-bop)
- **bog** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boat-vs-bog)
- **BOM** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boat-vs-bom)
- **bod** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boat-vs-bod)
- **bor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boat-vs-bor)
- **bok** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boat-vs-bok)
- **BSA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boat-vs-bsa)
- **bol** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boat-vs-bol)
- **BPA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boat-vs-bpa)

## Common misspellings (5)
`baot`, `bboat`, `boatt`, `bota`, `obat`

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