clown
/ˈklaʊ̯n/noun, verb
clown is spelled C-L-O-W-N: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 8.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,910th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, clown means “A slapstick performance artist often associated with a circus and usually characterized by bright, oversized clothing, a red nose, face paint, and a…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of clown is clowns.
How many letters and syllables are in clown?
| Letters | 5: C-L-O-W-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | 8.5 times per million words; the 7,910th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; 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 clown?
Clown appears 8.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,910th 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 clown?
- US /ˈklaʊ̯n/
- /ˈklæʊ̯n/
- /ˈklaːn/
Clown has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-clown.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with clown?
8 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as clown from its last stressed vowel (/aʊn/):
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 clown
- clowns plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- clowning participle, present
- clowned participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does clown mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A slapstick performance artist often associated with a circus and usually characterized by bright, oversized clothing, a red nose, face paint, and a brightly colored wig.
- 2
A person who acts in a silly fashion.
He was regarded as the clown of the school, always playing pranks.
- 3
A stupid person.
- 4
archaicA man of coarse nature and manners; an awkward fellow; an illbred person; a boor.
- 5
archaicOne who works upon the soil; a rustic; a churl; a yokel.
He […] began to descend to familiar questions, endeavouring to accommodate his discourse to the grossness of rustic understandings. The clowns soon found that he did not know wheat from rye, and began to despise him; one of the boys, by pre
- 6
A clownfish.
verb
- 1
To act in a silly or playful fashion.
- 2
To ridicule, make fun of.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Clown in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | clown, clownesse, pitre, bouffon, bouffonne |
| German | Clown, Clownin , Trottel, Witzfigur |
| Portuguese | palhaço, palhaça |
| Spanish | payaso, payasa, clown, clon |
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 clown come from?
From earlier clowne, cloyne (“man of rustic or coarse manners, boor, peasant”); likely of North Germanic origin, akin to Icelandic klunni (“clumsy fellow, klutz”), Swedish kluns (“clumsy fellow”), all from Middle Low German klunz, from klunt (“pile, lump, something thick”); according to Pokorny, this could be related to a group of Germanic derivatives of Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to ball up; amass”), such as Proto-West Germanic *klott (“lump”), Proto-Germanic *klūtaz (“clod, lump”), *kultaz (“lump, bundle”), etc.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).