Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

parboil

/ˈpɑːr.bɔɪl/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.36 in modern English

Syllables
par-boil
IPA
/ˈpɑːr.bɔɪl/
11
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To boil food briefly so that it is partly cooked.

Etymology

From Middle English parboyle, from Old French parbouillir (“to boil thoroughly”), from Medieval Latin perbulliō, from Latin per (“thoroughly”) + bulliō (“to boil”). Sense “to boil partially” (c.1440), rather than original “to boil thoroughly” is by corruption: associating the prefix with part (from Latin pars (“part”)) rather than per.

Origin

Word Breakdown

  • Root: parboyle, parbouillir, perbulliō, per

Regional Pronunciation

  • American English: /ˈpɑːr.bɔɪl/
  • British English: /ˈpɑː.bɔɪl/

Inflected Forms

parboils (present, singular) parboiling (participle, present) parboiled (participle, past) parboiled (past)

Derived Forms

parbake parboiler parcook parfry

Frequently Paired Words

blanch

Synonyms

blanch

Questions

How do you pronounce parboil?
The recorded pronunciation is /ˈpɑːr.bɔɪl/.
What does parboil mean?
To boil food briefly so that it is partly cooked.
Where does parboil come from?
It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce parboil

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “parboil”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈpɑːr.bɔɪl/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “parboil”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “parboil” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.