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PlainSpell

fib

/fɪb/noun, verb

fib is spelled F-I-B: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 43,663rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, fib means “A lie, especially one that is more or less inconsequential” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of fib is fibs.

How many letters and syllables are in fib?

Letters3: F-I-B
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 2 million words; the 43,663rd 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 fib?

Fib appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 43,663rd 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 fib?

  • /fɪb/

Fib 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-fib.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of fib

  • fibs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • fibbing participle, present
  • fibbed participle, past

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

What does fib mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    informalA lie, especially one that is more or less inconsequential.

  2. 2

    informalrareA liar.

  3. 3

    informalThe fibula.

  4. 4

    A kind of experimental poem where the number of syllables in each line is the next succeeding Fibonacci number.

verb

  1. 1

    informalTo lie, especially more or less inconsequentially.

  2. 2

    archaicTo punch, especially a series of punches in rapid succession; to beat; to hit; to strike.

noun

as FIB
  1. 1

    Initialism of focused ion beam.

  2. 2

    derogatoryoffensiveInitialism of fucking Illinois bastard.

  3. 3

    Initialism of flying inflatable boat.

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

Fib in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchbaratin, bobard, craque (a more or less inconsequential lie), baratiner, bobarder (to tell a more or less inconsequential lie)
GermanFlunkerei, Schwindelei, Fabulation, Fantasiegeschichte (a more or less inconsequential lie), fabulieren, flunkern (to tell a more or less inconsequential lie)
Portuguesementirinha, peta (a more or less inconsequential lie)
Spanishmilonga, patraña, trola, mentirijilla, mentirilla, mentirita (a more or less inconsequential lie)

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 fib come from?

Unknown. Probably from fable; compare fible-fable (“nonsense”).

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

What to look up after fib