browse
/bɹaʊz/verb, noun
browse is spelled B-R-O-W-S-E: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears 3.9 times per million words in written English, the 13,127th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, browse means “To scan, to casually look through in order to find items of interest, especially without knowledge of what to look for beforehand” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in browse?
| Letters | 6: B-R-O-W-S-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.9 times per million words; the 13,127th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 browse?
Browse appears 3.9 times per million words in written English, the 13,127th 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 browse?
- /bɹaʊz/
- /bɹæʊz/
Browse 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-browse.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with browse?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as browse.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: bowser.
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 browse
- browses present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- browsing participle, present
- browsed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does browse mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To scan, to casually look through in order to find items of interest, especially without knowledge of what to look for beforehand.
I'm just browsing around.
- 2
To move about while sampling, such as with food or products on display.
- 3
To navigate through hyperlinked documents on a computer, usually with a browser.
- 4
To move about while eating parts of plants, especially plants other than pasture, such as shrubs or trees.
- 5
archaicTo feed on, as pasture; to pasture on; to graze.
noun
- 1
Young shoots and twigs.
- 2
Fodder for cattle and other animals.
- 3
The act of browsing through something.
I had a browse in the old bookshop.
- 4
That which one browses through; something to read.
- 5
Bruised fish used as bait.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Browse in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | feuilleter, parcourir , regarder , naviguer , brouter |
| German | blättern, durchsuchen, stöbern, durchstöbern , browsen, surfen |
| Portuguese | observar , navegar , ramonear |
| Spanish | vichar, bichar, curiosear, ojear , webear , ramonear |
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 browse come from?
From Middle English browsen, from Old French brouster, broster (“to nibble off buds, sprouts, and bark; browse”), from brost (“a sprout, shoot, bud”), from a Germanic source, perhaps Frankish *brust (“shoot, bud”), from Proto-Germanic *brustiz (“bud, shoot”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrews- (“to swell, sprout”). Cognate with Bavarian Bross, Brosst (“a bud”), Old Saxon brustian (“to sprout”). Doublet of brut, breast, and brush.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).