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Kibosh in Scrabble and Meaning

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What does kibosh mean? Is kibosh a Scrabble word?

How many points in Scrabble is kibosh worth? kibosh how many points in Words With Friends? What does kibosh mean? Get all these answers on this page.

Scrabble® and Words with Friends® points for kibosh

See how to calculate how many points for kibosh.

Is kibosh a Scrabble word?

Yes. The word kibosh is a Scrabble US word. The word kibosh is worth 15 points in Scrabble:

K5I1B3O1S1H4

Is kibosh a Scrabble UK word?

Yes. The word kibosh is a Scrabble UK word and has 15 points:

K5I1B3O1S1H4

Is kibosh a Words With Friends word?

Yes. The word kibosh is a Words With Friends word. The word kibosh is worth 15 points in Words With Friends (WWF):

K5I1B4O1S1H3

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Valid words made from Kibosh

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Results

6-letter words (1 found)

KIBOSH,

5-letter words (2 found)

HOIKS,HOKIS,

4-letter words (19 found)

BIOS,BISH,BISK,BOHS,BOIS,BOKS,BOSH,BOSK,HOBS,HOIK,HOIS,HOKI,KHIS,KISH,KOBS,KOIS,OBIS,OIKS,SKIO,

3-letter words (29 found)

BIO,BIS,BOH,BOI,BOK,BOS,HIS,HOB,HOI,HOS,IOS,ISH,ISO,KHI,KIS,KOB,KOI,KOS,OBI,OBS,OHS,OIK,OIS,SHO,SIB,SIK,SKI,SOB,SOH,

2-letter words (16 found)

BI,BO,HI,HO,IO,IS,KI,KO,OB,OH,OI,OK,OS,SH,SI,SO,

You can make 67 words from kibosh according to the Scrabble US and Canada dictionary.

Definitions and meaning of kibosh

kibosh

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈkaɪˌbɒʃ/, /kɪˈbɑʃ/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈkaɪˌbɑʃ/, /kaɪˈbɑʃ/, /kɪ-/
  • Rhymes: -aɪbɒʃ, -ɒʃ
  • Hyphenation: ki‧bosh

Etymology 1

The origin of the noun is uncertain; the following etymologies have been suggested:

  • According to Gerald Leonard Cohen, Stephen Goranson, and Matthew Little, at present the most likely derivation is as a non-rhotic variant of kurbash (“heavy whip, lash”), from Arabic كُرْبَاج (kurbāj, “lash, whip”), or from its etymon Ottoman Turkish قرباچ (kırbaç, “lash, whip”) (whence Turkish kırbaç (“whip”)).
  • From Irish caidhp bháis (literally “death cap”), said to denote, among other things, the black cap worn by English judges when pronouncing the death sentence, the hood put on a person before they were put to death by hanging, or a form of torture called pitchcapping. However, there appears to be no convincing evidence that the term was used in these senses.
  • From a Yiddish word (compare Hebrew כָּבַשׁ (kavásh, “to conquer, subjugate”)); however, no such word has been found.
  • From Middle English cabochen (“to cut off (the head, chiefly of a deer), behead”), from Middle French cabocher (“to cut off (the head)”), from caboche (“the head”) (Northern France, informal) (whence Middle English caboche (“head of cabbage”)), from Italian capocchia (“the head”) (derogatory), ultimately from Latin caput (“the head”). The Middle English word is said to have been adopted in Cockney slang; however, how this is supposed to have happened remains unexplained
  • A clogmakers’ term kibosh (“iron bar about a foot long that, when hot, is used to soften and smooth leather”).

The verb is derived from the noun.

Noun

kibosh (uncountable)

  1. (slang) Chiefly in put on the kibosh or put the kibosh on: something which checks or restrains.
Alternative forms
  • cabosh, kaibosh, kibbosh, kiebosh, kybosh, kyebosh
Derived terms
  • put on the kibosh, put the kibosh on
Translations

Verb

kibosh (third-person singular simple present kiboshes, present participle kiboshing, simple past and past participle kiboshed)

  1. (transitive) To decisively put a stop to or terminate (someone or something).
Translations

Etymology 2

Possibly a variant of bosh (“nonsense”).

Noun

kibosh (uncountable)

  1. (UK, slang, obsolete, rare) Bosh, nonsense. [19th c.]

Etymology 3

Origin unknown.

Noun

kibosh (uncountable)

  1. (UK, slang, obsolete, rare) Chiefly preceded by the: fashion, style.

References

Further reading

  • “Kibosh” in [John Camden Hotten], The Slang Dictionary […], 5th edition, London: Chatto and Windus, 1874, pages 206–207.
  • Jonathon Green (2024) “kibosh n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang
  • Jonathon Green (2024) “kibosh v.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang

Source: wiktionary.org