foo
/fuː/noun, interjection
foo is spelled F-O-O: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.2 times per million words in written English, the 18,537th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, foo means “A metasyntactic variable used to represent an unspecified entity. If part of a series of such entities, it is often the first in the series, and…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of foo is foos or foo's.
How many letters and syllables are in foo?
| Letters | 3: F-O-O |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.2 times per million words; the 18,537th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is foo?
Foo appears 2.2 times per million words in written English, the 18,537th 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 foo?
- UK /fuː/
Foo 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-au-foo.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with foo
Also written: fu.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with foo?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as foo from its last stressed vowel (/u/, British pronunciation):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: oof, ofo.
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 foo
- foos plural
- foo'
- foo's plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does foo mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A metasyntactic variable used to represent an unspecified entity. If part of a series of such entities, it is often the first in the series, and followed immediately by bar.
Suppose we have two objects, foo and bar.
- 2
slangAlternative letter-case form of Foo (“placeholder god”).
- 3
slangPronunciation spelling of fool.
interjection
- 1
Expression of disappointment or disgust.
Oh foo – the cake burnt!
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does foo come from?
From Chinese 福 (fú, “fortunate; prosperity, good luck”), via its use as 福星 (Fúxīng, “Jupiter”) in Chinese statues of the Three Lucky Stars, picked up from c. 1935 as a nonsense word in Bill Holman's Smokey Stover comic strip, whence it was picked up by Pogo, Looney Tunes, and others. Used by Jack Speer as the name of a mock god of mimeography in the 1930s.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).