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ebb

/ɛb/noun, adjective, verb

ebb is spelled E-B-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, ebb means “The receding movement of the tide” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of ebb is ebbs.

How many letters and syllables are in ebb?

Letters3: E-B-B
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing1.1 times per million words; the 27,462nd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 ebb?

Ebb 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 ebb?

  • /ɛb/

Ebb 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-ebb.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of ebb

  • ebbs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • ebbe
  • ebber comparative
  • ebbest superlative
  • ebbing participle, present
  • ebbed participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does ebb mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The receding movement of the tide.

    The boats will go out on the ebb.

  2. 2

    A gradual decline.

  3. 3

    A low state; a state of depression.

  4. 4

    A European bunting, the corn bunting (Emberiza calandra, syns. Emberiza miliaria, Milaria calandra).

adjective

  1. 1

    low, shallow

verb

  1. 1

    to flow back or recede

    The tides ebbed at noon.

  2. 2

    to fall away or decline

    The dying man's strength ebbed away.

  3. 3

    to fish with stakes and nets that serve to prevent the fish from getting back into the sea with the ebb

  4. 4

    To cause to flow back.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Ebb in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchreflux, jusant (receding movement of the tide), refluer, décliner (to fall away or decline)
GermanEbbe (receding movement of the tide), ebben, abebben (to fall away or decline)
Portuguesevazante, refluxo (receding movement of the tide), vazar, refluir (to fall away or decline)
Spanishreflujo, marea (receding movement of the tide)

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 ebb come from?

From Middle English ebbe, from Old English ebba (“ebb, tide”), from Proto-West Germanic *abbjā, from Proto-Germanic *abjô, *abjǭ, from Proto-Germanic *ab (“off, away”), from Proto-Indo-European *apó. See also West Frisian ebbe, Dutch eb, German Ebbe, Danish ebbe, Old Norse efja (“countercurrent”), Old English af. More at of, off.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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