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PlainSpell

roach

/ɹoʊt͡ʃ/noun, verb

roach is spelled R-O-A-C-H: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.8 times per million words in written English, the 16,228th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, roach means “Any fish of species in the genus Rutilus, especially” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of roach is roaches.

How many letters and syllables are in roach?

Letters5: R-O-A-C-H
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing2.8 times per million words; the 16,228th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
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 roach?

Roach appears 2.8 times per million words in written English, the 16,228th 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 roach?

  • UK /ɹəʊtʃ/
  • US /ɹoʊt͡ʃ/

Roach 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-roach.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with roach?

5 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as roach from its last stressed vowel (/oʊtʃ/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: orach, corah.

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 roach

  • roaches plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • roaching participle, present
  • roached participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does roach mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    Any fish of species in the genus Rutilus, especially

  2. 2

    A common roach (Rutilus rutilus).

  3. 3

    Any member of the genus Hesperoleucus of California roaches.

  4. 4

    USSynonym of cockroach (“type of insect”).

  5. 5

    derogatoryslangSynonym of cockroach (“as a term of abuse”).

  6. 6

    USslangThe butt of a marijuana cigarette.

  7. 7

    USslangAn entire marijuana cigarette, blunt, or joint.

  8. 8

    UKslangThe filter of a rolled cigarette or joint, made from card or paper (often of the cigarette paper packet itself).

  9. 9

    Sail material that forms a concave curve rather than straight leech (aft edge) of a sail to increase the sail area over that of a simple triangular sail.

  10. 10

    A haircut or a similar-looking kind of headdress worn by some of the indigenous peoples of North America, often red.

  11. 11

    UKobsoleteA bed or stratum of some mineral.

  12. 12

    UKGritty or coarse rock; especially Portland stone or similar limestone.

verb

  1. 1

    Synonym of roach out.

  2. 2

    To cut or shave off the mane of a horse so that the remaining hair stands up on the neck.

  3. 3

    To cut a person's hair so that it stands straight up.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Roach in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchgardon (Rutilus rutilus), cul, cul de joint (slang: butt of a marijuana cigarette)
GermanPlötze, Rotauge (Rutilus rutilus)
Spanishleucisco, rutilo (Rutilus rutilus), bacha, calilla, calillón, changa (slang: butt of a marijuana cigarette)

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 roach come from?

From Middle English roche, from Old French roche, from Middle Low German roche, ruche (“ray (fish)”), from Old Saxon *rūh, possibly from Proto-Germanic *rūhaz (“rough”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after roach