boot
/but/noun, verb
boot is spelled B-O-O-T: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 15 times per million words in written English, the 5,206th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, boot means “A heavy shoe that covers part of the leg” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of boot is boots.
How many letters and syllables are in boot?
| Letters | 4: B-O-O-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 15 times per million words; the 5,206th 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 boot?
Boot appears 15 times per million words in written English, the 5,206th 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 boot?
- UK /buːt/
- British /bʉwt/
- US /but/
Boot 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-boot.ogg, EN-AU_ck1_boot.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with boot?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as boot from its last stressed vowel (/ut/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: boto.
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 boot
- boots plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- booting participle, present
- booted participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does boot mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A heavy shoe that covers part of the leg.
- 2
A kind of sports shoe worn by players of certain games such as cricket and football (historically in the form of boots, now shorter, but still called the same).
- 3
A blow with the foot; a kick.
- 4
A flexible cover of rubber or plastic, which may be preformed to a particular shape and used to protect a shaft, lever, switch, or opening from dust, dirt, moisture, etc.
- 5
Oppression, an oppressor.
- 6
A torture device used on the feet or legs, such as a Spanish boot.
- 7
USA parking enforcement device used to immobilize a car until it can be towed or a fine is paid; a wheel clamp.
- 8
A rubber bladder on the leading edge of an aircraft’s wing, which is inflated periodically to remove ice buildup; a deicing boot.
- 9
archaicRemedy, amends.
- 10
Profit, plunder.
- 11
That which is given to make an exchange equal, or to make up for the deficiency of value in one of the things exchanged; compensation; recompense.
- 12
obsoleteProfit; gain; advantage; use.
- 13
obsoleteRepair work; the act of fixing structures or buildings.
- 14
obsoleteA medicinal cure or remedy.
- 15
archaicThe act or process of bootstrapping; the starting or re-starting of a computing device.
It took three boots, but I finally got the application installed.
- 16
archaicinformalA bootleg recording.
verb
- 1
To kick.
I booted the ball toward my teammate.
- 2
To put boots on, especially for riding.
- 3
CanadaUScolloquialTo step on the accelerator of a vehicle for faster acceleration than usual or to drive faster than usual.
The storm is coming fast! Boot it!
- 4
informalTo eject; kick out.
We need to boot those troublemakers as soon as possible.
- 5
informalTo disconnect forcibly; to eject from an online service, conversation, etc.
- 6
slangTo vomit.
Sorry, I didn’t mean to boot all over your couch.
- 7
slangTo shoot, to kill by gunfire.
- 8
archaicTo be beneficial, to help.
- 9
archaicTo matter; to be relevant.
- 10
archaicrareTo enrich.
- 11
archaicTo bootstrap; to start a system, e.g. a computer, by invoking its boot process or bootstrap.
When arriving at the office, the first thing I do is boot my machine.
noun
- 1
Initialism of Build–own–operate–transfer.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Boot in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | botte, bottine , botter , expulser , déconnecter , vomir |
| German | Stiefel , Booten , starten, laden, booten, hochfahren |
| Portuguese | bota , inicialização, boot , iniciar, inicializar , cobertura |
| Spanish | bota , arrancar , funda |
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 boot come from?
From Middle English boote, bote (“shoe”), from Old French bote (“a high, thick shoe”). Of obscure origin, but probably related to Old French bot (“club-foot”), bot (“fat, short, blunt”), from Old Frankish *butt, from Proto-Germanic *buttaz, *butaz (“cut off, short, numb, blunt”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewt-, *bʰewd- (“to strike, push, shock”); if so, a doublet of butt. Compare Old Norse butt (“stump”), Low German butt (“blunt, plump”), Old English bytt (“small piece of land”), buttuc (“end”). More at buttock and debut.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).