borscht

/bɔːʃt/

//bɔːʃt// noun

"borscht" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“borscht” is uncommon English (frequency #69,694 among 31,241 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#69,694
frequency rank, English
31,241
“B” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A beetroot soup that can be served hot or cold, usually with sour cream, called borsch in its countries of origin.

Key facts for borscht
PropertyValue
Headwordborscht
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/bɔːʃt/
Letters7
Frequency rank#69,694
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “borscht” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). borscht lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

borscht is uncommon English at frequency #69,694 among 31,241 “B” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /bɔːʃt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for borscht in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: 1884 or 1808. Borrowed from Yiddish באָרשט (borsht), from Russian or Ukrainian борщ (boršč). Doublet of barszcz. The correct English form is borscht, spelled B-O-R-S-C-H-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    A beetroot soup that can be served hot or cold, usually with sour cream, called borsch in its countries of origin.
  2. 2
    Any similar sour soup made of other ingredients such as sorrel, cabbage, hogweed

Etymology

1884 or 1808. Borrowed from Yiddish באָרשט (borsht), from Russian or Ukrainian борщ (boršč). Doublet of barszcz.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "borscht"?
"borscht" is spelled B-O-R-S-C-H-T. The IPA pronunciation is /bɔːʃt/.
What does "borscht" mean?
As a noun, "borscht" means: A beetroot soup that can be served hot or cold, usually with sour cream, called borsch in its countries of origin.
How do you pronounce "borscht"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "borscht" is /bɔːʃt/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "borscht"?
1884 or 1808. Borrowed from Yiddish באָרשט (borsht), from Russian or Ukrainian борщ (boršč). Doublet of barszcz. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “borscht”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is B-O-R-S-C-H-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /bɔːʃt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words

Other uncommon English words near this rank

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list