dowse
/daʊs/verb, noun
dowse is spelled D-O-W-S-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 13 million words in written English, the 109,062nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, dowse means “Alternative form of douse (“to plunge into water”)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in dowse?
| Letters | 5: D-O-W-S-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 13 million words; the 109,062nd 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 dowse?
Dowse appears about once in every 13 million words in written English, the 109,062nd 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 dowse?
- /daʊs/
As a verb (“To use the dipping or divining rod, as in search of water…”): /daʊs/, /daʊz/.
Dowse 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-dowse.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of dowse
- dowses present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- dowsing participle, present
- dowsed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does dowse mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
Alternative form of douse (“to plunge into water”).
- 2
To use the dipping or divining rod, as in search of water, ore, etc.
- 3
Alternative form of douse (“to strike”).
noun
- 1
Alternative form of douse (“strike”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).