jibe
/d͡ʒaɪb/
"jibe" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“jibe” is uncommon English (frequency #56,832 among 796 “J” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #56,832
- frequency rank, English
- 796
- “J” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A facetious or insulting remark; a jeer, a taunt.
Corpus desk
Index EN-jibe · jibe · English
jibe · rank #56,832 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #56,832
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 796
- PHOTO-FINISH joule
Nearest frequency peer: joule (+2 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “jibe”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- indent
indent
43,175 corpus weight
- indiscreet
indiscreet
43,174 corpus weight
- indium
indium
43,173 corpus weight
- jibe
jibe
43,169 corpus weight
- joule
joule
43,167 corpus weight
- Kalashnikov
Kalashnikov
43,163 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “jibe” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | jibe |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /d͡ʒaɪb/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #56,832 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “jibe” in English
Rare enough to double-check
jibe is uncommon English at frequency #56,832 among 796 “J” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /d͡ʒaɪb/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A facetious or insulting remark; a jeer, a taunt.".
No misspelling variants are generated for jibe in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: Uncertain; possibly from Old French giber (“to engage in horseplay; to play roughly in sport”). Compare English jib (“usually of a horse: to stop and refuse to go forward”), Old Norse geipa (“to talk nonsense”). The noun is derived from the verb. The correct English form is jibe, spelled J-I-B-E.
Definition
- 1A facetious or insulting remark; a jeer, a taunt.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how jibe appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
He flung subtle jibes at her until she couldn’t bear to work with him any longer.
Alas poore Yoricke, […] where be your gibes now? your gamboles? your ſongs? your flaſhes of merriment, that were wont to ſet the table on a roare, not one now to mocke your owne grinning, quite chopfalne.
Etymology
Uncertain; possibly from Old French giber (“to engage in horseplay; to play roughly in sport”). Compare English jib (“usually of a horse: to stop and refuse to go forward”), Old Norse geipa (“to talk nonsense”). The noun is derived from the verb.
Synonyms
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "jibe", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).