Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

water bear

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.65 in modern English

Syllables
wa-ter bear
IPA
14
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A member of the animal phylum Tardigrada.

Etymology

Calque of German Wasserbär, used to describe these animals by Johann August Ephraim Goeze in 1773. Equivalent to water + bear.

Inflected Forms

water bears (plural)

Synonyms

moss piglet pudgy wudgy space bear tardigrade bear animalcule

Questions

What does water bear mean?
A member of the animal phylum Tardigrada.
Where does water bear come from?
Calque of German Wasserbär, used to describe these animals by Johann August Ephraim Goeze in 1773. Equivalent to water + bear.

How to pronounce water bear

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