tave
verb, noun
tave is spelled T-A-V-E: 4 letters. It appears about once in every 52 million words in written English, the 225,584th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, tave means “To sprawl with the arms and legs; kick or fidget with the feet” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in tave?
| Letters | 4: T-A-V-E |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 52 million words; the 225,584th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; 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 tave?
Tave appears about once in every 52 million words in written English, the 225,584th 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).
What rhymes with tave?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as tave.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: veta.
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 tave
- taves present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- taving participle, present
- taved participle, past
- teave
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does tave mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To sprawl with the arms and legs; kick or fidget with the feet.
- 2
To toss or tumble oneself about; act violently, rage, throw a fit.
- 3
To struggle, toil, strive, labour.
- 4
To trudge, walk heavily.
- 5
To wrestle.
- 6
To hurry along; gad about.
- 7
To distress, overtire.
noun
- 1
A difficulty, struggle.
- 2
A hurry, stir, commotion.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does tave come from?
From Middle English taven, from Old Norse *tafa, from Proto-Germanic *tabōną (“to grope, feel”). Cognate with Faroese tava (“to endeavour, exert oneself”), Norwegian Nynorsk tava (“to toil in vain”), German zabeln (“to move convulsively, sprawl, flounder”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).