breast

/bɹɛst/

//bɹɛst// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"breast" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“breast” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #3,927. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#3,927
frequency rank, English
4,121
“B” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Either of the two organs on the front of a female human's chest, which contain the mammary glands; also the analogous organs in males.

Corpus desk

Index EN-breast · breast · English

breast · rank #3,927 · 9 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #3,927
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,121
  • PHOTO-FINISH banking

Nearest frequency peer: banking (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “breast”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “breast” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

breast vs brett
67% similar
breast vs Brent
50% similar
breast vs brews
67% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for breast
PropertyValue
Headwordbreast
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/bɹɛst/
Letters6
Frequency rank#3,927
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “breast”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).breastlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “banking” (#3,926), “cant” (#3,928), “Carter” (#3,929). Among 4,121 “B” headwords, “breast” is #3,927. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around breast (IPA /bɹɛst/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #3,927 among 4,121 “B” headwords. Wiktionary lists 12 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for breast, with forms such as "bbreast", "berast", and "braest". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "brett", "Brent", "brews", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English brest, from Old English brēost, from Proto-West Germanic *breust, from Proto-Germanic *breustą, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrews- (“to swell”). Compare West Frisian boarst, Danish bryst, Swedish bröst; cf. also Dutch borst, German Brust. The correct English form is breast, spelled B-R-E-A-S-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Either of the two organs on the front of a female human's chest, which contain the mammary glands; also the analogous organs in males.
  2. 2
    The chest, or front of the human thorax.
  3. 3
    A section of clothing covering the breast area.
  4. 4
    The figurative seat of the emotions, feelings etc.; one’s heart or innermost thoughts.
  5. 5
    The ventral portion of an animal’s thorax.
  6. 6
    A choice cut of poultry, especially chicken or turkey, taken from the bird’s breast; also a cut of meat from other animals, breast of mutton, veal, pork.
  7. 7
    The front or forward part of anything.
  8. 8
    The upper surface of a landform or body of water.
  9. 9
    The face of a coal working.
  10. 10
    The front of a furnace.
  11. 11
    The power of singing; a musical voice.
  12. 12
    The breaststroke.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how breast appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Tanya’s breasts grew remarkably during pregnancy.
  2. Biblical criteria of sexual seductiveness include a white skin, black hair, or henna-dyed, scarlet lips, a prominent nose, rosy temples, long straight neck, firm breasts, round thighs, an erect posture.

Etymology

From Middle English brest, from Old English brēost, from Proto-West Germanic *breust, from Proto-Germanic *breustą, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrews- (“to swell”). Compare West Frisian boarst, Danish bryst, Swedish bröst; cf. also Dutch borst, German Brust.

Synonyms

chestheartsoulwhite meatbrisket

Antonyms

thighwingdark meat

This word in other languages

pecho(Español)sein(Français)Brust(Deutsch)seio(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • bbreast
  • berast
  • braest
  • breasst
  • breastt
  • breats
  • bresat
  • brreast
  • rbeast

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of breast - 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.

bbreast1berast2braest2breasst1breastt1breats2bresat2brreast1
Edit distance from "breast"

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

How do you spell "breast"?
"breast" is spelled B-R-E-A-S-T. The IPA pronunciation is /bɹɛst/.
What does "breast" mean?
As a noun, "breast" means: Either of the two organs on the front of a female human's chest, which contain the mammary glands; also the analogous organs in males.
What words are commonly confused with "breast"?
"breast" is commonly confused with "brett", "Brent", "brews". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "breast"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "breast" is /bɹɛst/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "breast"?
From Middle English brest, from Old English brēost, from Proto-West Germanic *breust, from Proto-Germanic *breustą, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrews- (“to swell”). Compare West Frisian boarst, Danish bryst, Swedish bröst; cf. also Dutch borst, Ger... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "breast", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Carter#3,929writes#3,920cotton#3,935Walter#3,917

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

crossed9 variantsexpand9 variantssalary9 variantsinches9 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list