cob
/kɑb/noun, verb
cob is spelled C-O-B: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,462nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, cob means “A corncob” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of cob is cobs.
How many letters and syllables are in cob?
| Letters | 3: C-O-B |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.1 times per million words; the 27,462nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with |
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is cob?
Cob appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,462nd 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 cob?
- US /kɑb/
- UK /kɒb/
Cob 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-cob.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-cob.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with cob
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: cobb.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with cob?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as cob from its last stressed vowel (/ɑb/):
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 cob
- cobs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- cobbing participle, present
- cobbed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does cob mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A corncob.
The grains, each of which is about the bulk of the largest marrowfat pea, are placed all round a stalk, which goes up the middle, and this little stalk, to which the seeds adhere, is called the Corn Cob.
- 2
The seed-bearing head of a plant.
- 3
Clipping of cobnut.
- 4
A male swan.
- 5
A gull, especially the black-backed gull (Larus marinus); also spelled cobb.
Here is also the pica marina or seapye many sorts of Lari, seamewes & cobs.
- 6
A lump or piece of anything, usually of a somewhat large size, as of coal, stone, or excrement.
- 7
A round, often crusty roll or loaf of bread.
- 8
A building material consisting of clay, sand, straw, water, and earth, similar to adobe; also called cobb, rammed earth or pisé.
The poore Cotager contenteth himſelfe with Cob for his wals, and Thatch for his couering….
- 9
A punishment consisting of blows inflicted on the buttocks with a strap or a flat piece of wood.
- 10
Abbreviation of cobble.
List and short characteristics of sampling sites (br = bedrock, cob = cobble, gra = gravel, peb = pebble, sa = sand).
- 11
Alternative form of COB.
verb
- 1
To construct using mud blocks or to seal a wall using mud or an artificial equivalent.
- 2
To have the heads mature into corncobs.
- 3
To remove the kernels from a corncob.
- 4
To thresh.
- 5
To break up ground with a hoe.
- 6
To beat with a flat instrument; to paddle.
[…] he pulled off his hat, and said he was going to cob him for breaking the rules and laws of the ship’s company.
- 7
colloquialTo throw, chuck, lob.
Well, sir, I’m sure I’d be rid of it fast enough if I could naut cob it away like a stoan.
- 8
To chip off unwanted pieces of stone, so as to form a desired shape or improve the quality of mineral ore.
[…] it is not less ridiculous for instance to place a man, who may be perhaps an adept at spalling stones, in charge of a mill at the salary of a first-class foreman, than it would be to put the latter to cob ore at the wage of a labourer.
- 9
Of an animal: to nibble at their skin with their front teeth.
noun
- 1
USInitialism of contingency operating base.
- 2
Acronym of chief of boat.
- 3
Initialism of close of business; the end of day on a business day.
Near-synonym: EOD (“end of day”)
- 4
Initialism of centre of buoyancy
- 5
Initialism of coordination of benefits
- 6
Initialism of chairman of the board
- 7
Initialism of chip on board (an LED module or integrated circuit bonded to a circuit board)
noun
- 1
Initialism of centre of buoyancy.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Cob in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | cygne mâle , torchis |
| German | männlicher Schwan |
| Spanish | cisne macho |
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 cob come from?
Of uncertain origin. The word has many disparate senses, which are likely of diverse origin. The specifics of these origins have long been debated, as has the question of which senses arise from which origins. At least the swan sense originated in Middle English cobbe (“male swan; gang leader; bully”). Some other senses likely originated as a variant of cop (“head, top, peak, summit”). In other senses, the word may be related to cub, itself of obscure origin but possibly from Old Norse kobbi (“seal”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).