MBIRA is a valid Scrabble word — 9 points
Yes. MBIRA is accepted by every list we check: Collins, the North American lists and Words with Friends. It scores 9 points in Scrabble and 11 in Words with Friends.
Which word lists accept MBIRA?
| Official Scrabble Players DictionaryUSA, Canada, Thailand | Valid |
|---|---|
| Official Tournament and Club Word ListUSA, Canada, Thailand | Valid |
| Collins Scrabble WordsEnglish in most countries | Valid |
| Words with FriendsZynga word list | Valid |
Word power: 33 / 100
Our own measure of how useful MBIRA is to know. It scores 9 from 5 tiles, takes 1 hook, and its letters make up 5.6% of the bag. How this number is calculated
Hooks for MBIRA
Front hooks — 0
None.
Back hooks — 1
mbirasChecked against OSPD, TWL, CSW, WWF. Takes an S, so it hooks onto plurals easily.
How MBIRA scores
Face value of the 5 tiles in MBIRA, before any board multiplier.
Tiles you need
| Letter | Needed | In the bag |
|---|---|---|
| m | 1 | 2 |
| b | 1 | 2 |
| i | 1 | 9 |
| r | 1 | 6 |
| a | 1 | 9 |
Drawing exactly these 5 tiles as an opening rack: 1 in 38,728.
What stands out about MBIRA
- The same 5 tiles also spell 2 other words, so the rack is worth re-reading before you play it.
Counted from the four word lists we hold, not taken from anywhere else. How we calculate things
What does MBIRA mean in Scrabble?
noun
music
A musical instrument from southern Africa consisting of metal tines mounted on a wooden board, plucked with the thumbs and fingers.
The mbira, often called a thumb piano in English, produces bright, ringing tones and is central to Shona ceremonial and religious music in Zimbabwe, where it is traditionally believed to summon ancestral spirits. Players pluck the metal tines with their thumbs while the wooden board rests against a resonating gourd or box to amplify the sound. Because each mbira is tuned slightly differently by its maker, no two instruments sound quite alike, and skilled players often build their own from scratch.
How MBIRA is used
Used in music and ethnomusicology; sometimes written mbira dzavadzimu for the specific ceremonial version.
- The musician's fingers moved quickly across the mbira.
- A mbira accompanied the singers throughout the ceremony.
- She learned to build her own mbira from a local craftsman.
- The metal tines of the mbira rang out over the gathered crowd.
- Recordings of mbira music are now popular far beyond Zimbabwe.
Written for this site: 1 meaning of MBIRA and 5 example sentences, not copied from a published dictionary.
Anagrams of MBIRA
The 5 tiles of MBIRA in a different order — 2 found.
Words starting with MBIRA
1 longer words begin with MBIRA.
Shorter words from the letters in MBIRA
Common questions about MBIRA
- Is MBIRA valid in Words with Friends?
- Yes. Words with Friends accepts MBIRA, where it scores 11 points. That game keeps its own list, separate from the Scrabble dictionaries.
- How many points is MBIRA worth?
- MBIRA is worth 9 points in Scrabble and 11 points in Words with Friends.
- What does MBIRA mean?
- A musical instrument from southern Africa consisting of metal tines mounted on a wooden board, plucked with the thumbs and fingers.
- What letters can be added to MBIRA?
- MBIRA takes 1 hook: 0 in front and 1 at the end.
Every word you can build from the 5 letters of MBIRA:
Open MBIRA in the Word Finder