rho
/ɹoʊ/noun
rho is spelled R-H-O: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 36,565th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, rho means “The seventeenth letter of the Modern Greek and Classical alphabets and the nineteenth letter of Old and Ancient” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of rho is rhos.
How many letters and syllables are in rho?
| Letters | 3: R-H-O |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 36,565th 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 rho?
Rho appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 36,565th 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 rho?
- UK /ɹəʊ/
- US /ɹoʊ/
Rho 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-rho.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Flame,_not_lame-Rho.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with rho
Sounds like: Rowe, Wroe, roe, row (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with rho?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as rho from its last stressed vowel (/oʊ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: hor, orh.
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 rho
- rhos plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does rho mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The seventeenth letter of the Modern Greek and Classical alphabets and the nineteenth letter of Old and Ancient.
- 2
The sensitivity of the option value to the risk-free interest rate.
noun
- 1
Any of a family of GTP-binding proteins
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Rho in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense letter of Greek alphabet:
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 rho come from?
From the name of the Ancient Greek letter ῥῶ (rhô).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).