buy
/baɪ/
"buy" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“buy” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #476 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #476
- frequency rank, English
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To obtain (something) in exchange for money or goods.
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 | buy |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /baɪ/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #476 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “buy” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for buy is 3 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /baɪ/. Corpus data places it at rank #476 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No generated misspelling entries exist for buy in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "by", "BW", "BX", 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 byen, from Old English bycġan (“to buy, pay for, acquire, redeem, ransom, procure, get done, sell”), from Proto-West Germanic *buggjan, from Proto-Germanic *bugjaną (“to buy”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰūgʰ… The correct English form is buy, spelled B-U-Y.
Definition
- 1To obtain (something) in exchange for money or goods.
- 2To obtain, especially by some sacrifice.
- 3To suffer consequences for (something) through being deprived of something; to pay for (something one has done).
- 4To bribe.
- 5To be equivalent to in value.
- 6to accept as true; to believe
- 7To make a purchase or purchases, to treat (for a drink, meal or gift)
- 8To make a bluff, usually a large one.
Etymology
From Middle English byen, from Old English bycġan (“to buy, pay for, acquire, redeem, ransom, procure, get done, sell”), from Proto-West Germanic *buggjan, from Proto-Germanic *bugjaną (“to buy”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰūgʰ- (“to bend”), or from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewgʰ- (“to take away, deliver”). Cognate with Scots buy (“to buy, purchase”), obsolete Dutch beugen (“to buy”), Old Saxon buggian, buggean (“to buy”), Old Norse byggja (“to build, settle”), Gothic 𐌱𐌿𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (bugjan, “to buy”). The spelling with “u” is from the Southwest, while the pronunciation with /aɪ/ is from the East Midlands.
This word in other languages
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 “buy”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-U-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /baɪ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “by” - see the side-by-side comparison. buy vs by
- 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.