Arica

name

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

The verdict

“Arica” is uncommon English (frequency #76,539 among 3,931 “A” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#76,539
frequency rank, English
3,931
“A” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A province in northern Chile.

Corpus desk

Index EN-arica · Arica · English

Arica · rank #76,539 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #76,539
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,931
  • PHOTO-FINISH Arcata

Nearest frequency peer: Arcata (-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 “Arica”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for Arica
PropertyValue
HeadwordArica
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechProper noun
Letters5
Frequency rank#76,539
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “Arica” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).Aricafalls 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: “Arcata” (#76,538), “armless” (#76,540), “Araujo” (#76,537). Among 3,931 “A” headwords, “Arica” is #76,539. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Arica is uncommon English at frequency #76,539 among 3,931 “A” headwords, classed as aproper noun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for Arica in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

Etymologically, the entry records: Uncertain. Rómulo Cúneo Vidal said that the word comes from Aymara ari (crag) + iqui (place to sleep). Manuel A. Quiroga said that the word comes from ari (phylum) + aka (tip). Carlos Auza Arce said that it comes from ari (hill) + acca (neighboring). The correct English form is Arica, spelled A-R-I-C-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    A province in northern Chile.
  2. 2
    A commune and port city, the capital of the province of Arica, Chile.

Etymology

Uncertain. Rómulo Cúneo Vidal said that the word comes from Aymara ari (crag) + iqui (place to sleep). Manuel A. Quiroga said that the word comes from ari (phylum) + aka (tip). Carlos Auza Arce said that it comes from ari (hill) + acca (neighboring).

This word in other languages

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 "Arica"?
"Arica" is spelled A-R-I-C-A.
What does "Arica" mean?
As a proper noun, "Arica" means: A province in northern Chile.
What is the origin of the word "Arica"?
Uncertain. Rómulo Cúneo Vidal said that the word comes from Aymara ari (crag) + iqui (place to sleep). Manuel A. Quiroga said that the word comes from ari (phylum) + aka (tip). Carlos Auza Arce said that it comes from ari (hill) + acca (neighboring). 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 "Arica", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list