tohu-bohu
/ˌtəʊ.huːˈbəʊ.huː/
"tohu-bohu" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“tohu-bohu” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Chaos, disorder, confusion.
Corpus desk
Index EN-tohu-bohu · tohu-bohu · English
tohu-bohu · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "T" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tohu-bohu |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌtəʊ.huːˈbəʊ.huː/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “tohu-bohu” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
tohu-bohu is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌtəʊ.huːˈbəʊ.huː/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Chaos, disorder, confusion.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for tohu-bohu, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Biblical Hebrew תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ, from תֹּהוּ (tóhu, “nothingness, void”) + בֹּהוּ (bóhu, “emptiness, desolation”). The correct English form is tohu-bohu, spelled T-O-H-U---B-O-H-U.
Definition
- 1Chaos, disorder, confusion.
Etymology
From Biblical Hebrew תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ, from תֹּהוּ (tóhu, “nothingness, void”) + בֹּהוּ (bóhu, “emptiness, desolation”).
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.