adobo

/ʔaˈdobo/

//ʔaˈdobo// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"adobo" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“adobo” is uncommon English (frequency #80,156 among 3,931 “A” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#80,156
frequency rank, English
3,931
“A” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A Philippine dish in which pork or chicken is slowly cooked in a sauce including soy sauce, vinegar, and crushed garlic.

Corpus desk

Index EN-adobo · adobo · English

adobo · rank #80,156 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #80,156
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,931
  • PHOTO-FINISH adjectival

Nearest frequency peer: adjectival (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “adobo”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “adobo” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for adobo
PropertyValue
Headwordadobo
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ʔaˈdobo/
Letters5
Frequency rank#80,156
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “adobo” in English

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).adobofalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “adjectival” (#80,155), “agonize” (#80,158), “Aalborg” (#80,151). Among 3,931 “A” headwords, “adobo” is #80,156. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

adobo is uncommon English at frequency #80,156 among 3,931 “A” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ʔaˈdobo/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for adobo in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Spanish adobo, from Old French adober (“equip a horseman”) (perhaps via Catalan), from the same Germanic root as dab, dub. Compare French daube (earlier dobe (1571), adobbe (1598)), Italian dobba (1549), adobbo (1570). The correct English form is adobo, spelled A-D-O-B-O.

Definition

  1. 1
    A Philippine dish in which pork or chicken is slowly cooked in a sauce including soy sauce, vinegar, and crushed garlic.
  2. 2
    A marinade.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how adobo appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. 1 chipotle chili in adobo sauce

Etymology

From Spanish adobo, from Old French adober (“equip a horseman”) (perhaps via Catalan), from the same Germanic root as dab, dub. Compare French daube (earlier dobe (1571), adobbe (1598)), Italian dobba (1549), adobbo (1570).

This word in other languages

adobo(Español)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "adobo"?
"adobo" is spelled A-D-O-B-O. The IPA pronunciation is /ʔaˈdobo/.
What does "adobo" mean?
As a noun, "adobo" means: A Philippine dish in which pork or chicken is slowly cooked in a sauce including soy sauce, vinegar, and crushed garlic.
How do you pronounce "adobo"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "adobo" is /ʔaˈdobo/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "adobo"?
From Spanish adobo, from Old French adober (“equip a horseman”) (perhaps via Catalan), from the same Germanic root as dab, dub. Compare French daube (earlier dobe (1571), adobbe (1598)), Italian dobba (1549), adobbo (1570). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "adobo", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Akhil#80,167zinke#80,143Zenon#80,140Altus#80,179

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list