bambou

/\bɑ̃.bu\/ noun

Letters

6 characters

Frequency Rank

#18,659

in French word usage

Misspellings

8

tracked variants

Confusables

8

similar word pairs

bambou is aFrenchnoun. It means: Poacée (ex Graminée) originaire d’Asie et d’Amérique du Sud, dont la tige ligneuse peut s’élever à plus de 20 mètres, utilisée pour sa légèreté, son élasticité et sa résistance à la traction. Ce no... Pronounced \bɑ̃.bu\. Often confused with barbu and bimbo.

Key facts for bambou
PropertyValue
Headwordbambou
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\bɑ̃.bu\
Letters6
Frequency rank#18,659
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs8
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of bambou in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for bambou is 6 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \bɑ̃.bu\. Corpus data places it at rank #18,659 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 8 documented wrong-spelling variants for bambou, with forms such as "abmbou", "babmou", and "bambbou". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 8 confusable-pair relationships, "barbu", "bimbo", "bayou", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is bambou, spelled B-A-M-B-O-U, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Poacée (ex Graminée) originaire d’Asie et d’Amérique du Sud, dont la tige ligneuse peut s’élever à plus de 20 mètres, utilisée pour sa légèreté, son élasticité et sa résistance à la traction. Ce nom est donné à de très nombreuses espèces appartenant à une vingtaine de genres.
  2. 2
    Canne de bambou.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: abmbou,babmou,bambbou,bambuo,bammbou,bamobu,bbambou,bmabou

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for bambou

Misspelling Variants of "bambou"

abmbou6babmou6bambbou7bambuo6bammbou7bamobu6bbambou7bmabou6
Misspelling Variants of "bambou"

Frequency rank: #18,659 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "bambou"?
"bambou" is spelled B-A-M-B-O-U. The IPA pronunciation is \bɑ̃.bu\.
What does "bambou" mean?
As a noun, "bambou" means: Poacée (ex Graminée) originaire d’Asie et d’Amérique du Sud, dont la tige ligneuse peut s’élever à plus de 20 mètres, utilisée pour sa légèreté, son élasticité et sa résistance à la traction. Ce no...
What words are commonly confused with "bambou"?
"bambou" is commonly confused with "barbu", "bimbo", "bayou". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "bambou"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "bambou" is \bɑ̃.bu\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "bambou" come from?
"bambou" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter B in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.