FUBAR
/ˈfuːbɑːɹ/
"fubar" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“FUBAR” is uncommon English (frequency #65,130 among 18,613 “F” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #65,130
- frequency rank, English
- 18,613
- “F” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Acronym of fucked/fouled up beyond all recognition/repair/reason/recovery.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | FUBAR |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈfuːbɑːɹ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #65,130 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “FUBAR” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
FUBAR is uncommon English at frequency #65,130 among 18,613 “F” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈfuːbɑːɹ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Acronym of fucked/fouled up beyond all recognition/repair/reason/recovery.".
FUBAR has no tracked misspelling variants, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Originated as slang in the U.S. Army in World War II, presumably from earlier foo, possibly influenced by German furchtbar (“terrible”). It is unclear if FUBAR or foobar was the original form. The correct English form is FUBAR, spelled F-U-B-A-R.
Definition
- 1Acronym of fucked/fouled up beyond all recognition/repair/reason/recovery.
Etymology
Originated as slang in the U.S. Army in World War II, presumably from earlier foo, possibly influenced by German furchtbar (“terrible”). It is unclear if FUBAR or foobar was the original form.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “FUBAR”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-U-B-A-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈfuːbɑːɹ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.