bozo
/ˈbəʊ.zəʊ/
"bozo" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bozo” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #45,819 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #45,819
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A stupid, foolish, or ridiculous person, especially a man.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | bozo |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbəʊ.zəʊ/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #45,819 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “bozo” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for bozo is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈbəʊ.zəʊ/. Corpus data places it at rank #45,819 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A stupid, foolish, or ridiculous person, especially a man.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for bozo, with forms such as "bbozo", "booz", and "bozzo". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "bro", "buzz", "bo", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Attested since the 1910s in American English, of uncertain origin. The term may derive from Spanish bozal, a term originally for a recently-imported slave and then "someone who speaks (Spanish) poorly". The term is older than Bozo the Clown, introduced in 1… The correct English form is bozo, spelled B-O-Z-O.
Definition
- 1A stupid, foolish, or ridiculous person, especially a man.
Etymology
Attested since the 1910s in American English, of uncertain origin. The term may derive from Spanish bozal, a term originally for a recently-imported slave and then "someone who speaks (Spanish) poorly". The term is older than Bozo the Clown, introduced in 1946. It is used as an insult in the 1931 Marx Brothers movie Monkey Business (1931 film). Derivation of the term from French bouseux /bu.zø/, a derogative term for a farmer equivalent to "bumpkin", is phonologically unlikely. Another possibility is Japanese 坊主 (bōzu) in its meaning of "young man", which can be derogatory, depending on the context.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: bbozo,booz,bozzo,bzoo,obzo
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of bozo - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “bozo”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-O-Z-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈbəʊ.zəʊ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “bro” - see the side-by-side comparison. bozo vs bro
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.