dowd
/daʊd/noun
dowd is spelled D-O-W-D: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 32,798th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, dowd means “Any of various European moths of the genus Blastobasis” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of dowd is dowds.
How many letters and syllables are in dowd?
| Letters | 4: D-O-W-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 32,798th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is dowd?
Dowd appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 32,798th 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 dowd?
- /daʊd/
Dowd 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).
Forms of dowd
- dowds plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does dowd mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
archaicA dowdy person, especially a woman; a frump.
- 2
Any of various European moths of the genus Blastobasis.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does dowd come from?
Back-formation from dowdy.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).