pouch
/paʊt͡ʃ/noun, verb
pouch is spelled P-O-U-C-H: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.7 times per million words in written English, the 16,455th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, pouch means “A small bag usually closed with a drawstring” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of pouch is pouches.
How many letters and syllables are in pouch?
| Letters | 5: P-O-U-C-H |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.7 times per million words; the 16,455th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is pouch?
Pouch appears 2.7 times per million words in written English, the 16,455th 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 pouch?
- /paʊt͡ʃ/
Pouch 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-pouch.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of pouch
- pouches plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- pouching participle, present
- pouched participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does pouch mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A small bag usually closed with a drawstring.
- 2
An organic pocket in which a marsupial carries its young.
- 3
Any pocket or bag-shaped object, such as a cheek pouch.
- 4
datedderogatoryslangA protuberant belly; a paunch.
- 5
A cyst or sac containing fluid.
- 6
A silicle, or short pod, as of the shepherd's purse.
- 7
A bulkhead in the hold of a vessel, to prevent grain etc. from shifting.
verb
- 1
To enclose within a pouch.
The beggar pouched the coin.
- 2
To transport within a pouch, especially a diplomatic pouch.
We pouched the encryption device to our embassy in Beijing.
- 3
To swallow.
- 4
obsoleterareTo pout.
- 5
obsoleteTo pocket; to put up with.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Pouch in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense small bag:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | sachet, petit sac, blague à tabac, étui à munitions, giberne, sac postal |
| German | Beutel |
| Portuguese | bolsa, malote |
| Spanish | bolsa, saquito, valija, petaca, cartapacio, bolsita |
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 pouch come from?
From Middle English pouche, poche, borrowed from Old Northern French pouche, from Old French poche, puche (whence French poche; compare also the Anglo-Norman variant poke), of Germanic origin: from Frankish *poka (“pouch”) (compare Middle Dutch poke, Old English pohha, dialectal German Pfoch). Doublet of poke; compare pocket.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).