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PlainSpell

wash

/wɑʃ/verb, noun

wash is spelled W-A-S-H: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 29 times per million words in written English, the 3,218th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data, counting Wash, the name). As a verb, wash means “To clean with water” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in wash?

Letters4: W-A-S-H
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing29 times per million words; the 3,218th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
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 wash?

Wash appears 29 times per million words in written English, the 3,218th most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes Wash, the name.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce wash?

  • UK /wɒʃ/
  • /wɛʃ/
  • US /wɑʃ/

Wash 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-uk-to_wash.ogg, En-us-wash.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with wash?

11 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as wash from its last stressed vowel (/ɑʃ/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: shaw.

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 wash

  • washes present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • washing participle, present
  • washed past, participle, singular, he/she/it, plural

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

What does wash mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To clean with water.

    The car is so dirty, we need to wash it.

  2. 2

    To carry away or erode by the force of water in motion.

    Don't pour that in the drain; it will wash downstream.

  3. 3

    To be eroded or carried away by the action of water.

  4. 4

    To clean oneself with water.

    I wash every morning after getting up.

  5. 5

    To cover with water or any liquid; to wet; to fall on and moisten.

    Waves wash the shore.

  6. 6

    To move with a lapping or swashing sound; to lap or splash.

    to hear the water washing

  7. 7

    To withstand being washed without impairment, as clothing, especially dyed clothing.

  8. 8

    To be cogent, convincing; to withstand critique.

noun

  1. 1

    The process or an instance of washing or being washed by water or other liquid.

    I'm going to have a quick wash before coming to bed.

  2. 2

    A liquid used for washing.

  3. 3

    A lotion or other liquid with medicinal or hygienic properties.

    mouth wash

  4. 4

    The quantity of clothes washed at a time.

    There's a lot in that wash: maybe you should split it into two piles.

  5. 5

    A smooth and translucent painting created using a paintbrush holding a large amount of solvent and a small amount of paint.

  6. 6

    The breaking of waves on the shore; the onwards rush of shallow water towards a beach.

    I could hear the wash of the wave.

  7. 7

    The bow wave or wake of a moving ship, or the vortex from its screws.

    The ship left a big wash

  8. 8

    The turbulence left in the air by a moving airplane.

noun

as WASH
  1. 1

    Acronym of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene.

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

Wash in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchlaver (to clean with water – see also deterge), se laver, faire sa toilette (to clean oneself), lavage (process or an instance of washing or being…), machine (clothes washed at a time), oeud (normally dry bed of an intermittent or…)
Germanwaschen, spülen (to clean with water – see also deterge), sich waschen (to clean oneself), Wäsche (process or an instance of washing or being…), wegspülen (to move or erode by the force of water in motion), Lavierung (painting)
Portugueselavar (to clean with water – see also deterge), lavar-se (to clean oneself), lavagem (process or an instance of washing or being…)
Spanishlavar (to clean with water – see also deterge), lavarse (to clean oneself), lavado (process or an instance of washing or being…), arrastrar (to move or erode by the force of water in motion), enjuague (lotion)

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 wash come from?

From Middle English wasshen, waschen, weschen (“to wash”), from Old English wascan (“to wash”), from Proto-West Germanic *waskan (“to wash”), from Proto-Germanic *waskaną, *watskaną (“to wash, get wet”), from Proto-Indo-European *wed- (“wet, water”).

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

What to look up after wash