cebar

[seˈβ̞aɾ]

/[seˈβ̞aɾ]/ verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“cebar” is uncommon Spanish (frequency #64,445 among 8,288 “C” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#64,445
frequency rank, Spanish
8,288
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Dar o echar cebo a los animales para alimentarlos, engordarlos o atraerlos.

Corpus desk

Index ES-cebar · cebar · Spanish

cebar · rank #64,445 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #64,445
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,288
  • PHOTO-FINISH cavas

Nearest frequency peer: cavas (-1 rank slots)

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.

Rangos de cola larga cerca de “cebar”

Banda escasa: las barras invierten el rango para que lo raro se lea más corto

corpus weight

What this shows Vista de cola larga: dónde “cebar” se sitúa frente a rangos españoles igualmente raros.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for cebar
PropertyValue
Headwordcebar
LanguageSpanish
Part of speechVerb
IPA[seˈβ̞aɾ]
Letters5
Frequency rank#64,445
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Cola larga: rango de “cebar” en español

La frecuencia va del puñado de palabras que usamos sin parar (izquierda) a la cola larga que apenas aparece (derecha).cebarcae en esta cola de rareza:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

La escala es logarítmica (cada marca ≈ 10× más rara). Vecinos raros de la misma franja: “cavas” (#64,444), “censuraron” (#64,446), “Caupolicán” (#64,443). Entre 8,288 lemas con “C”, “cebar” va en #64,445. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

cebar is uncommon Spanish at frequency #64,445 among 8,288 “C” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed [seˈβ̞aɾ]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 8 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for cebar, a sign its spelling follows regular Spanish conventions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct Spanish form is cebar, spelled C-E-B-A-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Dar o echar cebo a los animales para alimentarlos, engordarlos o atraerlos.
  2. 2
    Alimentar, fomentar; como echar aceite a la luz, leña al fuego, mineral al horno, etc.
  3. 3
    Poner en las armas y proyectiles que tienen carga explosiva, el cebo necesario para inflamarla.
  4. 4
    Poner fuego al cohete u otro artificio de pólvora.
  5. 5
    Hablando de máquinas o aparatos, ponerlos en condiciones de empezar a funcionar, como un sifón de líquido, una máquina de vapor dando vueltas con la mano al volante, etc.
  6. 6
    Tratándose de la aguja magnética, tocarla a un imán para darle o renovarle la fuerza.
  7. 7
    Fomentar o alimentar un afecto o pasión.
  8. 8
    Agregar agua caliente al mate o yerba mate.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how cebar appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. El racista se ceba con los pobres. Como Niang, como ­Wubi.
  2. los vecinos de siempre, jugando a las cartas, las damas o el dominó, cebando mate, compartiendo el vino.

Synonyms

cebar el mate

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "cebar"?
"cebar" is spelled C-E-B-A-R. The IPA pronunciation is [seˈβ̞aɾ].
What does "cebar" mean?
As a verb, "cebar" means: Dar o echar cebo a los animales para alimentarlos, engordarlos o atraerlos.
How do you pronounce "cebar"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "cebar" is [seˈβ̞aɾ]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "cebar" come from?
"cebar" is a Spanish word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar Spanish words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "cebar", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Spanish headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

cavas#64,444città#64,459Cachi#64,430Burma#64,427

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list