bob
/bɑb/verb, noun
bob is spelled B-O-B: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 43 times per million words in written English, the 2,339th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, bob means “To move gently and vertically, in either a single motion or repeatedly up and down, at or near the surface of a body of water, or similar medium” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in bob?
| Letters | 3: B-O-B |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 43 times per million words; the 2,339th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
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 bob?
Bob appears 43 times per million words in written English, the 2,339th 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 bob?
- UK /bɒb/
- US /bɑb/
Bob 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-AU_ck1_bob.ogg, En-us-bob.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Back_ache-Bob.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with bob?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as bob from its last stressed vowel (/ɑb/):
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 bob
- bobs present, singular, he/she/it, plural, rare
- bobbing participle, present
- bobbed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does bob mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To move gently and vertically, in either a single motion or repeatedly up and down, at or near the surface of a body of water, or similar medium.
The cork bobbed gently in the calm water.
- 2
To move (something) as though it were bobbing in water.
I bobbed my head underwater and saw the goldfish.
- 3
To perform oral sex on someone.
She bobbed on his knob.
- 4
To curtsy.
- 5
To strike with a quick, light blow; to tap.
- 6
Synonym of blob (“catch eels using worms strung on thread”).
- 7
To cut (hair) into a bob haircut.
I got my hair bobbed. How do you like it?
- 8
To shorten by cutting; to dock; to crop.
- 9
To bobsleigh.
noun
- 1
A bobbing motion; a quick up and down movement.
a bob of the head
- 2
A curtsy.
- 3
A bobber (buoyant fishing device).
- 4
Any of various hesperiid butterflies.
- 5
A bob haircut.
- 6
Any round object attached loosely to a flexible line, a rod, a body part etc., so that it may swing when hanging from it.
- 7
The dangling mass of a pendulum or plumb line.
- 8
The docked tail of a horse.
- 9
The short runner of a sled.
- 10
A bobsleigh.
- 11
A small wheel, made of leather, with rounded edges, used in polishing spoons, etc.
- 12
A working beam in a steam engine.
- 13
AustraliaUKdatedslangA shilling.
- 14
AustraliadatedslangA 10-cent coin, ten cents.
- 15
slangAn unspecified small amount of money.
I could have saved myself a few bob buying it somewhere else.
- 16
A graphical element, resembling a hardware sprite, that can be blitted around the screen in large numbers.
- 17
Clipping of shishkabob.
noun
- 1
Vibrator (device designed to stimulate a woman's genitals).
- 2
Acronym of bur oak blight (“a fungal disease of plants”).
adjective
- 1
Back-of-the-book; denoting those stamps in a catalogue that are not used for the payment of regular postage fees, and are displayed separately in the catalogue after that listing; the division between these two groups varies with the publisher.
noun
- 1
A generic male person.
It's so simple, even Bob from accounting could do it.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Bob in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
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 bob come from?
From Middle English bobben (“to move up and down or back and forth”), of uncertain origin. Compare Scots bob (“to mark, dance with a bobbing motion”), Icelandic boppa (“to wave up and down”), Swedish bobba (“to bob”), Faroese bøbbur (“something that rises or stands up; top”), Dutch dobberen (“to float, bob”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).