tribe
/tɹaɪb/noun, verb
tribe is spelled T-R-I-B-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 13 times per million words in written English, the 5,878th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, tribe means “An ethnic group larger than a band or clan (and which may contain clans) but smaller than a nation (and which in turn may constitute a nation with…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of tribe is tribes.
How many letters and syllables are in tribe?
| Letters | 5: T-R-I-B-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 13 times per million words; the 5,878th 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 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 tribe?
Tribe appears 13 times per million words in written English, the 5,878th 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 tribe?
- /tɹaɪb/
Tribe 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-tribe.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with tribe?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as tribe.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: biter.
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 tribe
- tribes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- tribing participle, present
- tribed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does tribe mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An ethnic group larger than a band or clan (and which may contain clans) but smaller than a nation (and which in turn may constitute a nation with other tribes). The tribe is often the basis of ethnic identity.
the Twelve Tribes of Israel; Germanic tribes; Celtic tribes
- 2
A tribal nation or people.
- 3
derogatoryinformalA nation or people considered culturally primitive, as may be the case in Africa, Australia or Native America.
- 4
A socially cohesive group of people within a society.
Near-synonyms: nation; ingroup
- 5
A class or group of things.
- 6
A group of apes who live and work together.
- 7
A hierarchical rank between family and genus.
- 8
A species or group of similar species of animal.
verb
- 1
To distribute into tribes or classes; to categorize.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Tribe in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense group of people:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | tribu |
| German | Stamm, Volksstamm, Sippe, Volk, Völkchen, Völklein |
| Portuguese | tribo |
| Spanish | tribu |
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 tribe come from?
From Middle English tribe, tribu, from Old French tribu, from Latin tribus. Doublet of tribus. Displaced native Old English hād (“tribe, group”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).