bourn
/boɹn/noun
bourn is spelled B-O-U-R-N: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 7 million words in written English, the 78,613th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, bourn means “Alternative form of bourne (“small stream or brook”)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of bourn is bourns.
How many letters and syllables are in bourn?
| Letters | 5: B-O-U-R-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 7 million words; the 78,613th 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 bourn?
Bourn appears about once in every 7 million words in written English, the 78,613th 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 bourn?
- UK /bɔːn/
- US /boɹn/
- /boːɹn/
Bourn 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Neøn-bourn.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with bourn
Also written: bourne.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with bourn?
10 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as bourn from its last stressed vowel (/oɹn/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: buron.
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 bourn
- bourns plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does bourn mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Alternative form of bourne (“small stream or brook”).
- 2
Alternative form of bourne (“destination; limit”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).