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PlainSpell

squash

/skwɔʃ/noun, verb

squash is spelled S-Q-U-A-S-H: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears 4.3 times per million words in written English, the 12,397th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, squash means “A sport played in a walled court with a soft rubber ball and bats like tennis racquets” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of squash is squashes.

How many letters and syllables are in squash?

Letters6: S-Q-U-A-S-H
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing4.3 times per million words; the 12,397th 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 squash?

Squash appears 4.3 times per million words in written English, the 12,397th 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 squash?

  • UK /skwɒʃ/
  • US /skwɔʃ/
  • /skwɑʃ/

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

Forms of squash

  • squashes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • squashing participle, present
  • squashed participle, past

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

What does squash mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A sport played in a walled court with a soft rubber ball and bats like tennis racquets.

    She plays squash every Saturday.

  2. 2

    A non-alcoholic drink made from a fruit-based concentrate diluted with water.

    Sure. I pour hot squash all over myself and we all have a good chuckle. Everyone except Muggins here.

  3. 3

    A place or a situation where people have limited space to move.

    It's a bit of a squash in this small room.

  4. 4

    A preparation made by placing material on a slide (flat, rectangular piece of glass), covering it and applying pressure.

  5. 5

    obsoleteSomething soft and easily crushed; especially, an unripe pod of peas.

  6. 6

    derogatoryobsoleteSomething unripe or soft.

  7. 7

    obsoleteA sudden fall of a heavy, soft body; also, a shock of soft bodies.

  8. 8

    slangAn extremely one-sided, usually short, match.

    It was one of the most shocking WWE title matches ever witnessed, and effectively a 20-minute squash match as Brock Lesnar "conquered" his opponent.

  9. 9

    Cucurbita maxima, including hubbard squash, great winter squash, buttercup squash, and some varieties of pumpkins.

  10. 10

    Cucurbita argyrosperma (syn. Cucurbita mixta), cushaw squash.

  11. 11

    Cucurbita moschata, butternut squash, Barbary squash, China squash.

  12. 12

    Cucurbita pepo, most pumpkins, acorn squash, summer squash, zucchini.

  13. 13

    Any other similar-looking plant of other genera.

  14. 14

    Lagenaria siceraria (syn. Cucurbita verrucosa), calabash, long-neck squash.

  15. 15

    The edible or decorative fruit of these plants, or this fruit prepared as a dish.

    We ate squash and green beans.

  16. 16

    obsoleteMuskrat.

verb

  1. 1

    To beat or press into pulp or a flat mass; to crush.

  2. 2

    To compress or restrict (oneself) into a small space; to squeeze.

    Somehow, she squashed all her books into her backpack, which was now too heavy to carry.

  3. 3

    To suppress; to force into submission.

interjection

  1. 1

    obsoleteThe sound of something relatively heavy splashing or squelching into water.

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

Squash in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchsquash (the sport), presser (to compress), écraser, broyer (to suppress), courge (plant and its fruit of the genus Cucurbita)
GermanSquash (the sport), zusammendrücken (to compress), Kürbis (plant and its fruit of the genus Cucurbita)
Portuguesesquash (the sport), comprimir (to compress), abóbora, moranga, jerimum (plant and its fruit of the genus Cucurbita), esmagar (to beat or press into pulp or flat mass)
Spanishsquash (the sport), zapallo, sapallo (plant and its fruit of the genus Cucurbita), aplastamiento, aplastar (to beat or press into pulp or flat mass)

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 squash come from?

From Middle English squachen, squatchen, from Old French esquacher, escachier, from Vulgar Latin *excoāctiāre, from Latin ex + coāctāre. Probably influenced by Middle English quashen, quassen, from Old French esquasser, escasser (“to crush, shatter, destroy, break”), from Vulgar Latin *exquassare, from Latin ex- + quassare (“to shatter”) (see quash).

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

What to look up after squash