Amoy
/əˈmɔɪ/
"amoy" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Amoy” is uncommon English (frequency #88,050 among 3,931 “A” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #88,050
- frequency rank, English
- 3,931
- “A” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Former name of Xiamen: a prefecture-level city and subprovincial city of Fujian, in southeastern China.
Corpus desk
Index EN-amoy · Amoy · English
Amoy · rank #88,050 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #88,050
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,931
- PHOTO-FINISH amelioration
Nearest frequency peer: amelioration (-2 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 “Amoy”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Amaterasu
Amaterasu
11,954 corpus weight
- amelioration
amelioration
11,953 corpus weight
- Amoy
Amoy
11,951 corpus weight
- anglicized
anglicized
11,948 corpus weight
- anorak
anorak
11,947 corpus weight
- anticompeti…
anticompetitive
11,945 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “Amoy” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Amoy |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /əˈmɔɪ/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #88,050 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “Amoy” in English
Rare enough to double-check
Amoy is uncommon English at frequency #88,050 among 3,931 “A” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed /əˈmɔɪ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for Amoy in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From the Postal Romanization of Hokkien 廈門 /厦门 (Ēe-mûi), specifically the Zhangzhou Hokkien dialect. Compare Spanish Emuy. The correct English form is Amoy, spelled A-M-O-Y.
Definition
- 1Former name of Xiamen: a prefecture-level city and subprovincial city of Fujian, in southeastern China.
- 2The Amoy dialect of the Hokkien language.
- 3The Hokkien language.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how Amoy appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Near the Coaſt of the Province of Fokien lie Quemuy and Eymuy : Further off at Sea, oppoſite to them, appear Formoſa and Tayowan ; the firſt by the Chineſes, who now poſſeſs it, call'd Talieukich ; but to the Eaſt, near the Province Chekiang are the Iſles Changque and Chenxan.
Passing one or two headlands to the northeastward of this place, we reach the harbor of Amoy, as pronounced by the natives, or, as more generally pronounced Heämun. This harbor is in the southwestern corner of a considerable bay, in which are two large and many smaller islands. The largest and westernmost island, named Amoy, forms the northern limit of th…
Etymology
From the Postal Romanization of Hokkien 廈門 /厦门 (Ēe-mûi), specifically the Zhangzhou Hokkien dialect. Compare Spanish Emuy.
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
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Amoy", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).