bow
/ˈboʊ̯/noun, verb, interjection
bow is spelled B-O-W: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 20 times per million words in written English, the 4,302nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “bough vs bow” about 40 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, bow means “A weapon made of a curved piece of wood or other flexible material whose ends are connected by a string, used for shooting arrows” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of bow is bows.
How many letters and syllables are in bow?
| Letters | 3: B-O-W |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | 20 times per million words; the 4,302nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| 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 common is bow?
Bow appears 20 times per million words in written English, the 4,302nd 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 bow?
- UK /ˈbəʊ̯/
- US /ˈboʊ̯/
- US /ˈbɔʊ̯/
As a verb (“To bend oneself as a gesture of respect or deference”): /baʊ/.
Bow has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-bow-1.ogg, En-us-bow-1.ogg, En-uk-bow-2.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with bow
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: beau (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with bow?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as bow from its last stressed vowel (/oʊ/):
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 bow
- bows plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- bowing participle, present
- bowed participle, past
- bao
- bau
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does bow mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A weapon made of a curved piece of wood or other flexible material whose ends are connected by a string, used for shooting arrows.
Holonym: bow and arrow
- 2
A curved bend in a rod or planar surface, or in a linear formation such as a river (see oxbow).
- 3
A rod with horsehair (or an artificial substitute) stretched between the ends, used for playing various stringed musical instruments.
- 4
A stringed instrument (chordophone), consisting of a stick with a single taut cord stretched between the ends, most often played by plucking.
- 5
A type of knot with two loops, used to tie together two cords such as shoelaces or apron strings, and frequently used as decoration, such as in gift-wrapping.
- 6
Anything bent or curved, such as a rainbow.
- 7
The U-shaped piece which goes around the neck of an ox and fastens it to the yoke.
- 8
Either of the arms of a pair of spectacles, running from the side of the lens to behind the wearer's ear.
- 9
A gesture, usually showing respect, made by inclining the head or bending forward at the waist; a reverence
He made a polite bow as he entered the room.
- 10
The front of a boat or ship.
Holonyms: watercraft < vessel
- 11
The rower that sits in the seat closest to the bow of the boat.
- 12
Alternative form of bao; any of several Chinese buns and breads
- 13
Ellipsis of bow-wow
verb
- 1
To play music on (a stringed) instrument using a bow.
The musician bowed his violin expertly.
- 2
To bend or curve, particularly downward.
The shelf bowed under the weight of the books.
- 3
To exercise powerful or controlling influence over; to bend or incline, figuratively; to humble or subdue.
- 4
To bend oneself as a gesture of respect or deference.
That singer always bows towards her audience for some reason.
- 5
To debut.
SCP recently announced that How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical will bow on the newly renovated stage next December.
- 6
To defer (to something).
I bow to your better judgement in the matter.
- 7
To give a direction, indication, or command to by bowing.
- 8
To give up or cease resisting.
I'll never bow to that tyrant.
- 9
about to
- 10
Ellipsis of bow-wow
noun
- 1
Initialism of bag of words.
noun
- 1
Alternative letter-case form of BOW.
interjection
- 1
Ellipsis of bow-wow
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Bow in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | arc, arc à flèches , archet , fléchir, courber , s'incliner |
| German | Bogen, Bogn , sich biegen, sich verbiegen , streichen , biegen |
| Portuguese | arco , curvar, arquear , tocar (com arco) , curva , laço |
| Spanish | arco , inclinarse, enarcarse , lazo, lacito, lazada |
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 bow come from?
From Middle English bowe, from Old English boga, Proto-West Germanic *bogō, from Proto-Germanic *bugô.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).