broom
/bɹuːm/noun, verb, interjection
broom is spelled B-R-O-O-M: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.6 times per million words in written English, the 16,687th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, broom means “A domestic utensil with fibers bound together at the end of a long handle, used for sweeping” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of broom is brooms.
How many letters and syllables are in broom?
| Letters | 5: B-R-O-O-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.6 times per million words; the 16,687th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with | |
| 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 broom?
Broom appears 2.6 times per million words in written English, the 16,687th 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 broom?
- UK /bɹuːm/
- UK /bɹʊm/
- British /bɹʉwm/
Broom 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-broom.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with broom
Sounds like: brume (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Also written: bream.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with broom?
3 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as broom from its last stressed vowel (/um/, British pronunciation):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: bromo.
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 broom
- brooms plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- brooming participle, present
- broomed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does broom mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A domestic utensil with fibers bound together at the end of a long handle, used for sweeping.
Meronyms: broomstick (handle), bavin (head)
- 2
An implement with which players sweep the ice to make a stone travel further and curl less; a sweeper.
- 3
Any of several yellow-flowered shrubs of the family Fabaceae, with long, stiff, thin branches and small or few leaves used for the domestic utensil.
- 4
Especially, of the tribe Genisteae, including genera Cytisus, Genista, and Spartium.
- 5
Of plants not closely related to those of tribe Genisteae.
- 6
rareslangA firearm; especially, a shotgun.
verb
- 1
To sweep with a broom.
[…] Sidi, I was busy in the exercise of my functions, occupied in brooming the front of the stables, when who should come but Hhamed Ould Denéï on horseback, at full gallop, as if he were going to break his neck. […]
- 2
To improve the embedding of a membrane by using a broom or squeegee to smooth it out and ensure contact with the adhesive under the membrane.
- 3
To get rid of someone, like firing an employee or breaking up with a girlfriend, to sweep another out of one's life.
April 2002 Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn, speaking to his son Harry, in the film "Spider-Man" A word to the "not-so-wise" about your girlfriend. Do what you need to with her, then broom her fast.
- 4
Alternative form of bream (“to clean a ship's bottom”).
interjection
- 1
Alternative form of brrm (“sound of a car engine”) (often used reduplicatively)
I'm in me mum's car, broom broom
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Broom in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | balai, ramon , genêt à balais, argalou , balayer |
| German | Besen, Baasa, Bäse , Ginster |
| Portuguese | vassoura, vassoira , gesta, giesta, giesteira , varrer |
| Spanish | escoba, escobillón, escobón, balea , retama , cepillo |
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 broom come from?
Inherited from Middle English brom, from Old English brōm (“brushwood”), from Proto-West Germanic *brām (“bramble”) (compare Saterland Frisian Brom, West Frisian brem, Dutch braam, German Low German Braam), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrem-, from *bʰer- ‘edge’. Related to brim, brink. Replaced English besom (from Old English besma (“broom, rod”)), which is now restricted in meaning to a particular kind of broom. (shotgun): So called because it is (like the cleaning utensil) long and held similarly to a besom and “cleans” what is in front.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).