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PlainSpell

guv

noun

guv is spelled G-U-V: 3 letters. It appears about once in every 8 million words in written English, the 82,325th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, guv means “A form of address to a man, usually a stranger or a superior” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of guv is guvs.

How many letters and syllables are in guv?

Letters3: G-U-V
In writingabout once in every 8 million words; the 82,325th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is guv?

Guv appears about once in every 8 million words in written English, the 82,325th 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).

Forms of guv

  • guvs plural
  • gov

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

What does guv mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    IrelandUKinformalA form of address to a man, usually a stranger or a superior.

    Spare two quid, guv? I 'aven't eaten since yesterday.

  2. 2

    UKinformalA male prison officer.

    We cover up the window so the guvs can't see us.

noun

as GUV
  1. 1

    Initialism of germicidal ultraviolet.

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

Guv in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

In the sense form of address:

LanguageWords
Frenchchef, patron

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 guv come from?

Alternative phonetic spelling of gov, short for governor.

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

What to look up after guv