Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

u-boat

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.56 in modern English

Syllables: u-boat
IPA

7

Scrabble Score

5

Letters

2

Syllables

5

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Any German submarine of the First or Second World War, or any Austro-Hungarian submarine of the First World War.

noun

A narrow utility cart with tall handles on both ends that is used to carry loads of retail products to be sold, so named because its shape is roughly that of a capital U.

noun

Nickname given to the General Electric Universal Series diesel-electric locomotives.

Slang

Etymology

Calque of German U-Boot; retail sense separately coined and reinforced by the well-known historical U-boat.

Usage

Slang

Subject

Wiktionary places this term in Military.

Inflected Forms

U-boats (plural)

Phrases

U-boat ace U-boater

Questions

What does u-boat mean?: Any German submarine of the First or Second World War, or any Austro-Hungarian submarine of the First World War.
Where does u-boat come from?: Calque of German U-Boot; retail sense separately coined and reinforced by the well-known historical U-boat.

How to pronounce u-boat

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “u-boat”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “u-boat”.
Repeat and practice — Say “u-boat” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.