puss
/pʊs/noun
puss is spelled P-U-S-S: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,820th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “pus vs puss” about 170 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, puss means “A cat” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of puss is pusses.
How many letters and syllables are in puss?
| Letters | 4: P-U-S-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.1 times per million words; the 27,820th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people 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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How common is puss?
Puss appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,820th 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 puss?
- /pʊs/
- /pʉs/
Puss 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-au-puss.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with puss
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: pus.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of puss
- pusses plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does puss mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
informalA cat.
Our local theatre is showing Puss in Boots.
- 2
datedA girl or young woman, or any child.
- 3
datedA hare.
- 4
slangvulgarThe vulva (female genitalia).
- 5
slangvulgarSex with a woman.
- 6
CanadaUSslangvulgarA coward; a wuss; someone who is unable to stand up for themselves.
- 7
slangThe mouth.
Shut your puss before I shut it for you.
- 8
slangThe face.
She gave him a slap in the puss.
- 9
Alternative spelling of pus.
It didn't move as much, and the same teary puss leaked from its eyes.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does puss come from?
Probably from Middle Low German pūse, pūskatte or Dutch poes (“puss, cat”, also slang for “vulva”), ultimately from a common Germanic word for cat, perhaps ultimately imitative of a sound made to get its attention (compare Arabic بسة (bissa)). Akin to West Frisian poes, Low German Puus, Puuskatte, Danish pus, dialectal Swedish kattepus, Norwegian pus. Found also in several other European, North African and Asian languages; compare Romanian pisică, Persian پیشی (piši), Tamil பூசை (pūcai), Tagalog pusa and Sardinian pisittu.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).