zhou
/d͡ʒoʊ/noun
zhou is spelled Z-H-O-U: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.4 times per million words in written English, the 17,587th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, zhou means “Synonym of congee, a thick rice porridge” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in zhou?
| Letters | 4: Z-H-O-U |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.4 times per million words; the 17,587th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like | |
| 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 zhou?
Zhou appears 2.4 times per million words in written English, the 17,587th 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 zhou?
- US /d͡ʒoʊ/
- UK /d͡ʒəʊ/
Zhou 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-Joe.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Flame,_not_lame-joe.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with zhou
Sounds like: joe (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with zhou?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as zhou from its last stressed vowel (/oʊ/):
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).
What does zhou mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Synonym of congee, a thick rice porridge.
noun
- 1
A people of ancient China.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does zhou come from?
From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 粥 (zhōu). Doublet of jook and juk.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).