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PlainSpell

sob

/sɑb/noun, verb

sob is spelled S-O-B: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.9 times per million words in written English, the 20,356th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, sob means “A cry with a short, sudden expulsion of breath” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of sob is sobs.

How many letters and syllables are in sob?

Letters3: S-O-B
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing1.9 times per million words; the 20,356th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 sob?

Sob appears 1.9 times per million words in written English, the 20,356th 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 sob?

  • UK /sɒb/
  • US /sɑb/

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

Forms of sob

  • sobs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • sobbing participle, present
  • sobbed participle, past

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

What does sob mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A cry with a short, sudden expulsion of breath.

  2. 2

    The sound of sob.

verb

  1. 1

    To weep with convulsive gasps.

    She was sobbing because she was feeling very miserable.

  2. 2

    To say (something) while sobbing.

    "He doesn't love me!" she sobbed.

  3. 3

    To soak.

noun

as SOB
  1. 1

    slangvulgarInitialism of son of a bitch.

  2. 2

    Initialism of shortness of breath.

  3. 3

    Initialism of souls on board.

  4. 4

    Initialism of sum of best.

  5. 5

    Initialism of start of business.

  6. 6

    Initialism of share of business.

  7. 7

    Initialism of seal on a bedsheet, used humorously to recall the first sense

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

Sob in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchfdp (son of a bitch (abbreviation)), sanglot (a cry with a short, sudden expulsion of breath), sangloter (weep with convulsive gasps), dire en sanglotant (say (something) while sobbing)
GermanHuso (son of a bitch (abbreviation)), Schluchzen, Schluchzer (a cry with a short, sudden expulsion of breath), schluchzen (weep with convulsive gasps)
Portuguesefdp (son of a bitch (abbreviation)), soluço (a cry with a short, sudden expulsion of breath), soluçar (weep with convulsive gasps)
Spanishhdp (son of a bitch (abbreviation)), sollozo, llanto (a cry with a short, sudden expulsion of breath), sollozar, llantear, plañir (weep with convulsive gasps)

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 sob come from?

From Middle English sobben, perhaps from Middle Low German sabben (“to drool, slobber, salivate”). Cognate with West Frisian sabje, sobje (“to suck”), Dutch zabben, sabbelen (“to suck”), zabberen (“to drool”), German Low German sabbeln, severn (“to drool”), German sabbern (“to drool, slobber”), Norwegian sabbe (“to spill, drop, make a mess”). Compare also Old English sēofian (“to lament”), German saufen (“to drink, swig”).

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

What to look up after sob