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PlainSpell

trough

UK /tɹɒf/noun, verb

trough is spelled T-R-O-U-G-H: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.7 times per million words in written English, the 16,455th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, trough means “A long, narrow container, open on top, for feeding or watering animals” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of trough is troughs.

How many letters and syllables are in trough?

Letters6: T-R-O-U-G-H
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing2.7 times per million words; the 16,455th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

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 trough?

Trough appears 2.7 times per million words in written English, the 16,455th 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 trough?

  • UK /tɹɒf/
  • /tɹɔf/
  • /tɹɑf/

Trough 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-trough.wav, En-us-trough.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with trough?

One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as trough from its last stressed vowel (/ɒf/, British pronunciation):

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 trough

  • troughs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • troughing participle, present
  • troughed participle, past

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

What does trough mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A long, narrow container, open on top, for feeding or watering animals.

    One of Harriet's chores was to slop the pigs' trough each morning and evening.

  2. 2

    Any similarly shaped container.

  3. 3

    AustraliaA rectangular container used for washing or rinsing clothes.

    Ernest threw his paint brushes into a kind of trough he had fashioned from sheet metal that he kept in the sink.

  4. 4

    A short, narrow canal designed to hold water until it drains or evaporates.

    There was a small trough that the sump pump emptied into; it was filled with mosquito larvae.

  5. 5

    colloquialAn undivided metal urinal (plumbing fixture)

  6. 6

    CanadaA gutter under the eaves of a building; an eaves trough.

    The troughs were filled with leaves and needed clearing.

  7. 7

    AustraliaA channel for conveying water or other farm liquids (such as milk) from place to place by gravity; any ‘U’ or ‘V’ cross-sectioned irrigation channel.

  8. 8

    A long, narrow depression between waves or ridges; the low portion of a wave cycle.

    The buoy bobbed between the crests and troughs of the waves moving across the bay.

verb

  1. 1

    To eat in a vulgar style, as if from a trough.

    He troughed his way through three meat pies.

noun

as Trough
  1. 1

    Alternative letter-case form of trough.

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

Trough in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchauge, abreuvoir (a long, narrow, open container for feeding…), gouttière (a gutter under the eaves of a building), creux (a long, narrow depression between waves or…), thalweg (a linear atmospheric depression associated with…)
GermanTrog, Futtertrog, Mulde (a long, narrow, open container for feeding…), Graben, Rinne (short, narrow drainage canal)
Portuguesecocheira, comedouro, cocho (a long, narrow, open container for feeding…), calha (a gutter under the eaves of a building), vale (a long, narrow depression between waves or…)
Spanishcomedero, abrevadero, pesebre (a long, narrow, open container for feeding…), canaleta (a gutter under the eaves of a building), canal (short, narrow drainage canal), batea (a long, narrow container open at the top)

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 trough come from?

From Middle English trogh, from Old English troh, trog (“a trough, tub, basin, vessel for containing liquids or other materials”), from Proto-West Germanic *trog, from Proto-Germanic *trugą, *trugaz, from Proto-Indo-European *drukós, enlargement of *dóru (“tree”). See also West Frisian trôch, Dutch trog, German Trog, Danish trug, Swedish tråg; also Middle Irish drochta (“wooden basin”), Old Armenian տարգալ (targal, “ladle, spoon”). More at tree.

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

What to look up after trough