barbara
/ˈbɑɹb(ə)ɹə/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.20 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
name
A female given name from Latin.
name
A syllogism in which all three propositions are of the form "All X are Y" or "X is a Y".
Example Sentences
- "My mother had a maid call'd Barbara; / She was in love, and he she lov'd prov'd mad / And did forsake her; […]"
- "All in the merrye month of May / When greene buds they were swellin / Yong Jemmye Grove on his death-bed lay / For love of Barbara Allen."
- ""What do you think they are going to name the baby? Anne; after her and her mamma. So very ugly a name!" "I don't think so," said Mr Carlyle. "It is simple and unpretending. I like it much. Look at the long, pretentious names in our family - Archibald! Cornelia! And yours, too - Barbara! What a mouthful they all are!" Barbara contracted her eyebrows. It was equivalent to saying that he did not like her name."
- ""Everybody in the next generation," suggested Dick, "will be named Peter or Barbara - because at present all piquant literary characters are named Peter or Barbara.""
- "'Barbara?' Barr―baah―rrah. Barbarian woman. Wild. Untamed. An incredibly sexy name."
- "Among Soloway’s congregants injured in the attack was Barbara Steinmetz, an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor who has become one of the most poignant symbols of the attack."
Etymology
* From Latin Barbara, the name of Saint Barbara, feminine form of barbarus, from Ancient Greek βάρβαρος (bárbaros, “strange, foreign”). Doublet of Varvara. * (logic): From the given name; chosen because it has three A's in it representing universal affirmatives.
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
- Root: Barbara, βάρβαρος
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈbɑɹb(ə)ɹə/
- British English: /ˈbɑːb(ə)ɹə/
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
herb Barbara
Santa Barbara shelled slug