joss
/dʒɔs/noun
joss is spelled J-O-S-S: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 25,751st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, joss means “A Chinese household divinity; a Chinese idol” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of joss is josses.
How many letters and syllables are in joss?
| Letters | 4: J-O-S-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.2 times per million words; the 25,751st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
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 joss?
Joss appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 25,751st 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 joss?
- UK /dʒɒs/
- US /dʒɔs/
- /dʒɑs/
Joss 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-joss.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with joss?
7 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as joss from its last stressed vowel (/ɔs/):
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 joss
- josses plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does joss mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A Chinese household divinity; a Chinese idol.
- 2
A heathen divinity.
- 3
informalLuck.
verb
- 1
slangTo invalidate a fan theory or original element of a fanwork through the introduction of new canon or retconning.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does joss come from?
From Chinese Pidgin English joss, from Macau Pidgin Portuguese, from Portuguese deus (“god”), from Latin deus (“god”), from Proto-Indo-European *deywós (“god/that which belongs to heaven”). Doublet of Tiw and Tyr.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).