maw
/mɔ/noun
maw is spelled M-A-W: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 30,418th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, maw means “The upper digestive tract (where food enters the body), especially the mouth and jaws of an animal” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of maw is maws.
How many letters and syllables are in maw?
| Letters | 3: M-A-W |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 30,418th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with | |
| 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 maw?
Maw appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 30,418th 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 maw?
- UK /mɔː/
- US /mɔ/
- /mɑ/
Maw 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-maw.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with maw
Sounds like: more (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with maw?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as maw from its last stressed vowel (/ɔ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: awm.
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 maw
- maws plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does maw mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The upper digestive tract (where food enters the body), especially the mouth and jaws of an animal.
- 2
slangThe mouth and jaws of a furry.
- 3
derogatoryslangThe mouth.
Shut your maw!
- 4
Any large, insatiable or perilous opening.
- 5
obsoleteAppetite; inclination.
- 6
The swim bladder of a fish, especially when used as food in Chinese cuisine.
- 7
archaicThe stomach, especially of an animal.
- 8
colloquialMother.
- 9
A gull.
- 10
slangA person from a rural area of the Isle of Lewis, i.e. outwith Stornoway; a country bumpkin.
noun
- 1
derogatoryinformalInitialism of model, actress, whatever: a young woman without much talent who attains celebrity through physical attractiveness
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Maw in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense upper digestive tract:
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 maw come from?
From Middle English mawe, maghe, maȝe, from Old English maga (“stomach; maw”), from Proto-West Germanic *magō, from Proto-Germanic *magô (“belly; stomach”), from Proto-Indo-European *mak-, *maks- (“bag, bellows, belly”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).