bold
/ˈbəʊld/adjective, verb
bold is spelled B-O-L-D: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 18 times per million words in written English, the 4,589th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “bald vs bold” about 110 times a month (Google, United States). As an adjective, bold means “Courageous, daring” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in bold?
| Letters | 4: B-O-L-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 18 times per million words; the 4,589th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| 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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is bold?
Bold appears 18 times per million words in written English, the 4,589th 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 bold?
- UK /ˈbəʊld/
- UK [ˈbɒʊɫd]
- /ˈbɒld/
Bold 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-us-bold.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with bold
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: bowled (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with bold?
9 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as bold from its last stressed vowel (/əʊld/, British pronunciation):
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 bold
- bolder comparative
- more bold comparative
- boldest superlative
- most bold superlative
- bolds present, singular, he/she/it
- bolding participle, present
- bolded participle, past
- bolde
- boolde
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does bold mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Courageous, daring.
Bold deeds win admiration and, sometimes, medals.
- 2
Visually striking; conspicuous.
the painter's bold use of colour and outline
- 3
Having thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface.
Many bold fonts are available on this computer.
- 4
Presumptuous, forward or impudent.
- 5
IrelandNaughty; insolent; badly-behaved.
All of her children are terribly bold and never do as they are told.
- 6
Full-bodied.
- 7
Pornographic; depicting nudity.
The government warned bus operators against continuing to show bold content on buses.
- 8
Steep or abrupt.
verb
- 1
informalTo make (a font or some text) bold.
Please bold all these subheads.
- 2
obsoleteTo make bold or daring.
- 3
obsoleteTo become bold or brave.
adjective
- 1
Acronym of blood-oxygen-level dependent.
noun
- 1
obsoleteA dwelling; habitation; building.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Bold in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | hardi, effronté , gras |
| German | mutig, wagemutig, tapfer, kühn , fett |
| Portuguese | corajoso, bravo, audacioso , negrito |
| Spanish | denodado , negrita, negrilla, egipcia |
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 bold come from?
From Middle English bold, bolde, bald, beald, from Old English bald, beald (“bold, brave, confident, strong, of good courage, presumptuous, impudent”), from Proto-West Germanic *balþ, from Proto-Germanic *balþaz (“strong, bold”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-, *bʰlē- (“to bloat, swell, bubble”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).