bottom
bot·tom/ˈbɑ.təm/noun, verb, adjective
bottom is spelled B-O-T-T-O-M, 2 syllables: bot·tom. The wrong spelling people search most is buttom: about 210 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 12 of all searches for the word. Bottom is a noun meaning “The lowest part of anything”. The plural of bottom is bottoms.
How many letters and syllables are in bottom?
| Letters | 6: B-O-T-T-O-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: bot·tom |
| In writing | 69 times per million words; the 1,528th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 3; the most searched, buttom, about 210 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; 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 do you spell bottom?
Bottom is spelled B-O-T-T-O-M. 3 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 10 of the searches for bottom in either form.
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). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is bottom?
Bottom appears 69 times per million words in written English, the 1,528th 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 bottom?
- UK /ˈbɒt.əm/
- US /ˈbɑ.təm/
- US [ˈbɑ.ɾəm]
Bottom has 2 syllables, split bot·tom in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-bottom.wav, En-us-bottom.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with bottom
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: botton.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with bottom?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as bottom from its last stressed vowel (/ɑtəm/):
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 bottom
- bottoms plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- bottoming participle, present
- bottomed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does bottom mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The lowest part of anything.
Footers appear at the bottoms of pages.
- 2
The lowest or last position in a rank.
The Red Sox are at the bottom again.
- 3
A garment worn to cover the body below the torso.
There’s a hole in her pyjama bottoms.
- 4
The lowest part of a container.
- 5
Spirits poured into a glass before adding soda water.
- 6
The second half of an inning, the home team's turn at bat.
bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, two outs
- 7
The bass or baritone instruments of a band.
a soda and a bottom of brandy
- 8
The working portion of a moldboard-style plow.
single-bottom plow
verb
- 1
To furnish (something) with a bottom.
to bottom a chair
- 2
To pour spirits into (a glass to be topped up with soda water).
- 3
obsoleteTo wind (like a ball of thread etc.).
- 4
To establish or found (something) on or upon.
Moreover, the Supreme Court has held that the President must obey outstanding executive orders, even when bottomed on the Constitution, until they are revoked.
- 5
To lie on the bottom of; to underlie, to lie beneath.
- 6
obsoleteTo be based or grounded.
- 7
To reach or strike against the bottom of something, so as to impede free action.
- 8
To reach the bottom of something.
adjective
- 1
The lowest or last place or position.
Those files should go on the bottom shelf.
- 2
Relating to the genitals.
bottom dysphoria
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate bottom?
Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of bottom: btm, bttm.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Bottom in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | fond, bas, dessous , arrière-train, cul, derrière |
| German | Boden, Grund, Unterseite , passiv |
| Portuguese | fundo , cu, fundilho , passivo |
| Spanish | fondo, solera, parte de abajo , culo , pasivo |
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 bottom come from?
From Middle English botme, botom, from Old English botm, bodan (“bottom, foundation; ground, abyss”), from Proto-West Germanic *butm, from Proto-Germanic *butmaz, *budmaz (“bottom; ground”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰmḗn (“bottom”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).