rabbet
/ˈɹæb.ɪt/noun, verb
rabbet is a noun meaning “A longitudinal channel, groove, or recess cut out of the edge or face of a plank of wood or other material; especially, one intended to fit another…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled R-A-B-B-E-T, and it appears about once in every 40 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of rabbet is rabbets.
What does rabbet mean?
noun
- 1
A longitudinal channel, groove, or recess cut out of the edge or face of a plank of wood or other material; especially, one intended to fit another member to form a joint.
verb
- 1
To cut a rabbet in a piece of material.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce rabbet?
- /ˈɹæb.ɪt/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-rabbet.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of rabbet
- rabbets plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- rabbeting participle, present
- rabbeted participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is rabbet?
Rabbet appears about once in every 40 million words in written English, the 194,306th 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).
Words people confuse with rabbet
Sounds like: rabbit (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Rabbet in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense channel, groove of recess in e.g. wood:
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 rabbet come from?
From Middle English rabeten, from Old French raboter, rabouter (“to thrust back”, verb), from Old French re- + boter, bouter. Doublet of rebut. The noun is from Middle English rabet, from Old French rabot, from the verb.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).