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PlainSpell

bowel

/ˈbaʊ.əl/noun

bowel is spelled B-O-W-E-L: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 3.5 times per million words in written English, the 13,897th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, bowel means “A part or division of the intestines, usually the large intestine” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of bowel is bowels.

How many letters and syllables are in bowel?

Letters5: B-O-W-E-L
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing3.5 times per million words; the 13,897th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
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 bowel?

Bowel appears 3.5 times per million words in written English, the 13,897th 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 bowel?

  • /ˈbaʊ.əl/
  • /baʊl/

Bowel has 2 syllables (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)-Vealhurl-bowel.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with bowel?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as bowel.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: below, elbow.

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 bowel

  • bowels plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • boweling US, participle, present
  • bowelling UK, participle, present
  • boweled US, participle, past
  • bowelled UK, participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does bowel mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A part or division of the intestines, usually the large intestine.

  2. 2

    The entrails or intestines; the internal organs of the stomach.

  3. 3

    The (deep) interior of something.

    The treasures were stored in the bowels of the ship.

  4. 4

    archaicThe seat of pity or the gentler emotions; pity or mercy.

  5. 5

    obsoleteoffspring

verb

  1. 1

    archaicTo disembowel.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Bowel in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchgros intestin (large intestine), boyaux (intestines, entrails), entrailles (interior of something)
GermanDickdarm (large intestine), Darm (intestines, entrails), Inneres, Eingeweide, Bauch (interior of something)
Portugueseintestino grosso (large intestine), intestino, entranha (intestines, entrails), entranhas (interior of something)
Spanishintestino grueso (large intestine), tripa, intestino, entraña (intestines, entrails), entrañas (interior of something), vísceras (seat of pity or gentler emotions)

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 bowel come from?

Borrowed from Middle French bouel, from Old French boïel, from Latin botellus, diminutive of botulus (“sausage”). Doublet of boyau.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after bowel