# bout

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈbaʊt/ · frequency rank #6,547

## Definitions
1. A period of something, especially one painful or unpleasant, like an illness.
2. A boxing match.
3. An assault (a fencing encounter) at which the score is kept.
4. A roller derby match.
5. A fighting competition.
6. A bulge or widening in a musical instrument, such as either of the two characteristic bulges of a guitar.
7. The going and returning of a plough, or other implement used to mark the ground and create a headland, across a field.

## Etymology
From Middle English bout, bowt, bught (whence also modern English bought (“bend, curve”)), probably from Old English *buht (“bend, turn”), an unrecorded variant of Old English byht (“a bend, curve”), from Proto-West Germanic *buhti, from Proto-Germanic *buhtiz (“a bend”). Equivalent to bow + -t. Doublet of bight and bought.
For the sense development compare bender.

## Easily confused with
- **Bt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bout-vs-bt)
- **but** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bout-vs-but)
- **buy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bout-vs-buy)
- **boy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bout-vs-boy)
- **box** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bout-vs-box)
- **bus** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bout-vs-bus)
- **bow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bout-vs-bow)
- **bug** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bout-vs-bug)
- **bud** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bout-vs-bud)
- **bum** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bout-vs-bum)
- **bun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bout-vs-bun)
- **BYU** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bout-vs-byu)
- **bub** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bout-vs-bub)
- **bur** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bout-vs-bur)
- **bru** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bout-vs-bru)
- **BTU** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bout-vs-btu)
- **Bui** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bout-vs-bui)
- **boys** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bout-vs-boys)
- **bowl** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bout-vs-bowl)
- **butt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bout-vs-butt)

## Common misspellings (5)
`bbout`, `botu`, `boutt`, `buot`, `obut`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/bout