Afro-American
"afro-american" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Afro-American” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 13
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A native or resident of the United States (an American) who is of African heritage.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Afro-American |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 13 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Afro-American” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
Afro-American is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A native or resident of the United States (an American) who is of African heritage.".
Zero misspellings are on record for Afro-American in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Afro- + American. The correct English form is Afro-American, spelled A-F-R-O---A-M-E-R-I-C-A-N.
Definition
- 1A native or resident of the United States (an American) who is of African heritage.
Etymology
From Afro- + American.
Synonyms
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "Afro-American"?
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Using “Afro-American”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-F-R-O---A-M-E-R-I-C-A-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.