bowed
/boʊd/adjective, verb
bowed is spelled B-O-W-E-D: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.1 times per million words in written English, the 18,811th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, bowed means “Having a bow (rod for playing stringed instruments)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in bowed?
| Letters | 5: B-O-W-E-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.1 times per million words; the 18,811th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with |
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 bowed?
Bowed appears 2.1 times per million words in written English, the 18,811th 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 bowed?
- US /boʊd/
- UK /bəʊd/
- /baʊd/
Bowed 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: En-us-bowed.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with bowed
Sounds like: bode (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with bowed?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as bowed from its last stressed vowel (/oʊd/):
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).
What does bowed mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Having a bow (rod for playing stringed instruments).
a bowed instrument
- 2
Having been played by a bow (rod for playing stringed instruments).
- 3
Equipped with a bow (weapon).
- 4
Bent or curved.
verb
- 1
simple past and past participle of bow
- 2
simple past and past participle of bow
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).