ford
/fɔɹd/noun, verb
ford is spelled F-O-R-D: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 32 times per million words in written English, the 2,992nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, ford means “A location where a stream is shallow and the bottom has good footing, making it possible to cross from one side to the other with no bridge, by…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of ford is fords.
How many letters and syllables are in ford?
| Letters | 4: F-O-R-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 32 times per million words; the 2,992nd 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 ford?
Ford appears 32 times per million words in written English, the 2,992nd 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 ford?
- UK /fɔːd/
- US /fɔɹd/
- /fo(ː)ɹd/
Ford 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-ford.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-Ford.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with ford?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as ford from its last stressed vowel (/ɔɹd/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: dorf.
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 ford
- fords plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- foorth
- fording participle, present
- forded participle, past
- fforde
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does ford mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A location where a stream is shallow and the bottom has good footing, making it possible to cross from one side to the other with no bridge, by walking, riding, or driving through the water; a crossing.
- 2
A stream; a current.
verb
- 1
To cross a stream by walking through it.
- 2
To traverse any precarious environment.
noun
- 1
A car, truck, tractor, or other vehicle of this make.
Their grandparents always drove Fords.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Ford in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | gué , passer à gué |
| German | Furt , durchqueren , Fjord , Ford |
| Portuguese | vau , vadear , Ford |
| Spanish | vado , vadear |
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 ford come from?
From Middle English fōrd, from Old English ford, from Proto-West Germanic *furdu, from Proto-Germanic *furduz, from Proto-Indo-European *pértus (“crossing”). Doublet of firth, fjord, and fjard, all via Old Norse; and port, distantly via Latin. Cognate with Low German Föörd, Dutch voord, German Furt, Norwegian and Danish fjord. See also forth and Persian پل (pol, “bridge”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).