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gut

/ɡʌt/noun, verb, adjective

gut is spelled G-U-T: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 6,884th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, gut means “The alimentary canal, especially the intestine” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of gut is guts.

How many letters and syllables are in gut?

Letters3: G-U-T
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing10 times per million words; the 6,884th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
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 gut?

Gut appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 6,884th 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 gut?

  • /ɡʌt/
  • /ɡʊt/

Gut 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-inlandnorth-gut.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with gut?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as gut.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: tug.

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 gut

  • guts plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • gutting participle, present
  • gutted participle, past

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

What does gut mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    The alimentary canal, especially the intestine.

  2. 2

    informalThe abdomen of a person, especially one that is enlarged.

    You've developed quite a beer gut since I last met you.

  3. 3

    The intestines of an animal used to make strings of a tennis racket or violin, etc.

  4. 4

    A person's emotional, visceral self.

    I have a funny feeling in my gut.

  5. 5

    informalA class that is not demanding or challenging.

    You should take Intro Astronomy: it's a gut.

  6. 6

    A narrow channel, passage, or stream of water. (Compare gote.)

    the Gut of Canso

  7. 7

    The sac of silk taken from a silkworm when ready to spin its cocoon, for the purpose of drawing it out into a thread. When dry, it is exceedingly strong, and is used as the snood of a fishing line.

verb

  1. 1

    To eviscerate.

    Holonym: field dress

  2. 2

    To remove or destroy the most important parts of.

    Fire gutted the building.

  3. 3

    To dishearten; to crush (the spirits of).

    They were gutted by the court's decision.

adjective

  1. 1

    Made of gut.

    a violin with gut strings

  2. 2

    Instinctive.

    gut reaction

noun

as GUT
  1. 1

    Initialism of grand unification theory or grand unified theory.

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

Gut in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
GermanDarm, Eingeweide (alimentary canal), Bauch, Ranzen (abdomen), Darmsaite (intestines of an animal used to make strings of…), ausnehmen (To eviscerate)
Portuguesetripa (alimentary canal), pança, barriga (abdomen), estreito, canal (narrow passage of water)
Spanishtripa (alimentary canal), panza, mondongo (abdomen), destripar (To eviscerate), maría (gut course)
Frenchpanse, bedaine, bide (abdomen), boyaux, cordes de boyau (intestines of an animal used to make strings of…), vider (To eviscerate)

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 gut come from?

From Middle English gut, gutte, gotte, from Old English gutt (usually in plural guttas (“guts, entrails”)), from Proto-Germanic *gut-, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰewd- (“to pour”). Related to English gote (“drain”), Old English ġēotan (“to pour”). More at gote, yote. The verb is from Middle English gutten, gotten (“to gut”).

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

What to look up after gut