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PlainSpell

braid

/bɹeɪd/verb, noun

braid is spelled B-R-A-I-D: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.7 times per million words in written English, the 21,209th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, braid means “To weave together, intertwine (strands of fibers, ribbons, etc.); to arrange (hair) in braids” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in braid?

Letters5: B-R-A-I-D
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing1.7 times per million words; the 21,209th 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 braid?

Braid appears 1.7 times per million words in written English, the 21,209th 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 braid?

  • /bɹeɪd/

Braid 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-braid.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with braid

Also written: bred.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with braid?

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

Spelled with the same letters in another order: rabid, bidar.

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 braid

  • braids present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • braiding participle, present
  • braided participle, past
  • more braid comparative
  • most braid superlative
  • brade
  • brad
  • bread
  • bred
  • breid
  • breyd

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

What does braid mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    obsoleteTo make a sudden movement with, to jerk.

  2. 2

    archaicTo start into motion.

  3. 3

    To weave together, intertwine (strands of fibers, ribbons, etc.); to arrange (hair) in braids.

  4. 4

    To mix, or make uniformly soft, by beating, rubbing, or straining, as in preparing food.

  5. 5

    obsoleteTo reproach; to upbraid.

noun

  1. 1

    obsoleteA sudden movement; a jerk, a wrench.

  2. 2

    A weave of three or more strands of fibers, ribbons, cords or hair often for decoration.

  3. 3

    A stranded wire composed of a number of smaller wires twisted together.

  4. 4

    A tubular sheath made of braided strands of metal placed around a central cable for shielding against electromagnetic interference.

  5. 5

    obsoleteA caprice or outburst of passion or anger.

  6. 6

    Given two sets of n points on corresponding positions on two parallel lines, a braid is a unique set of crossings (over or under) between n strands that connect each point on one line to a point on the other line such that all points represent the terminus of one and only one strand and the traversal of any strand from a starting point to an ending point never moves further away from the from the

  7. 7

    A wicker guard for protecting newly grafted trees.

  8. 8

    obsoleteA moment, stound.

  9. 9

    IrelandScotlandUKA shelf or board for holding objects.

  10. 10

    IrelandScotlandUKA board to press curd for cheese.

  11. 11

    IrelandScotlandUKA flat board attached to a beam, used for weighing.

adjective

  1. 1

    obsoleteCrafty, deceitful.

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

Braid in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchnatter, tresser (to intertwine), galon (sudden movement), tresse, natte (weave of three or more strands)
Germanflechten, verflechten (to intertwine), Ruck (sudden movement), Zopf, Litze (weave of three or more strands), zerreiben (to mix by beating, rubbing etc)
Portuguesetrançar, entrançar (to intertwine), trança (weave of three or more strands)
Spanishtrenzar (to intertwine), trenza, simpa, cimpa (weave of three or more strands), chape (hairstyle)

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 braid come from?

From Middle English braiden, breided, bræiden, from Old English breġdan (“to move quickly, pull, shake, swing, throw (wrestling), draw (sword), drag; bend, weave, braid, knit, join together; change color, vary, be transformed; bind, knot; move, be pulled; flash”), from Proto-West Germanic *bregdan, from Proto-Germanic *bregdaną (“to flicker, flutter, jerk, tug, twitch, flinch, move, swing”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrēḱ-, *bʰrēǵ- (“to shine, shimmer”).

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

What to look up after braid