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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

sob.

A cry with a short, sudden expulsion of breath.

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/sɒb/Received-Pronunciation/sɑb/General-American
  1. A cry with a short, sudden expulsion of breath.

  2. The sound of sob.

    onomatopoeic
Where this word comes from

From Middle English sobben, perhaps from Middle Low German sabben (“to drool, slobber, salivate”). Cognate with West Frisian sabje, sobje (“to suck”), Dutch zabben, sabbelen (“to suck”), zabberen (“to drool”), German Low German sabbeln, severn (“to drool”), German sabbern (“to drool, slobber”), Norwegian sabbe (“to spill, drop, make a mess”). Compare also Old English sēofian (“to lament”), German saufen (“to drink, swig”).

verb/sɒb/Received-Pronunciation/sɑb/General-American
  1. To weep with convulsive gasps.

    intransitive
    She was sobbing because she was feeling very miserable.
  2. To say (something) while sobbing.

    transitive
    "He doesn't love me!" she sobbed.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English sobben, perhaps from Middle Low German sabben (“to drool, slobber, salivate”). Cognate with West Frisian sabje, sobje (“to suck”), Dutch zabben, sabbelen (“to suck”), zabberen (“to drool”), German Low German sabbeln, severn (“to drool”), German sabbern (“to drool, slobber”), Norwegian sabbe (“to spill, drop, make a mess”). Compare also Old English sēofian (“to lament”), German saufen (“to drink, swig”).

verb/sɒb/Received-Pronunciation/sɑb/General-American
  1. To soak.

Where this word comes from

See sop.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.