bout
About — the first syllable fell off and nobody missed it.
Also called 'bout, about.
Updated September 21, 2026
bout pronunciation
/BOWT/
Meaning
Everyday Southern clipping of about. Shows up in how bout, just bout, near bout, and talkin' bout. Same meanings as about: roughly, concerning, almost. In porch talk it is not lazy so much as fast. The a drops and the sentence keeps rolling.
How folks use it
- “How bout we run into town before the feed store closes?”
- “He's just bout ready to crank that old tractor.”
Origin and etymology
From about with the unstressed a- dropped, a common English reduction that Southern and Appalachian speech leans on hard. Oral histories and dialect writing often spell it 'bout. Related near bout means almost. Separate noun bout (a fight or a spell of illness) is a different word from French/German boxing and illness senses.
Frequently asked questions
Is bout the same as a boxing bout?
No. That bout is a noun for a match or a spell of sickness. This bout is just about with the front chopped off.