Ashkenazi
/ˌæʃkɪˈnɑːzi/
"ashkenazi" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Ashkenazi” is an uncommon English word, ranked #51,546 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #51,546
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Of or relating to Jews of German origin, and their traditions, customs, and rituals. Their traditional vernacular is Yiddish, and they historically dominated Jewish life in Europe north of the Medi...
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Ashkenazi |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˌæʃkɪˈnɑːzi/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #51,546 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Ashkenazi” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Ashkenazi is 9 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌæʃkɪˈnɑːzi/. Corpus data places it at rank #51,546 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Of or relating to Jews of German origin, and their traditions, customs, and rituals. Their traditional vernacular is Yiddish, and they historically dominated Jewish life in Europe north of the Medi...".
Ashkenazi has no tracked misspelling variants, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable 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: Borrowed from Hebrew אַשְׁכְּנַזִּי ('ashk'nazí), from Biblical Hebrew אַשְׁכְּנַז (ʾaškənaz). The biblical Ashkenaz was the son of Gomer, the grandson of Japheth, and the great-grandson of Noah. Ashkenaz's descendants were identified with the Germans by me… The correct English form is Ashkenazi, spelled A-S-H-K-E-N-A-Z-I.
Definition
- 1Of or relating to Jews of German origin, and their traditions, customs, and rituals. Their traditional vernacular is Yiddish, and they historically dominated Jewish life in Europe north of the Mediterranean, in contrast to the Sephardim.
Etymology
Borrowed from Hebrew אַשְׁכְּנַזִּי ('ashk'nazí), from Biblical Hebrew אַשְׁכְּנַז (ʾaškənaz). The biblical Ashkenaz was the son of Gomer, the grandson of Japheth, and the great-grandson of Noah. Ashkenaz's descendants were identified with the Germans by medieval Jewish tradition. Ashkenaz was also the name used for the Rhine river, which was the starting point of central and eastern European settlement by Jews, who are thought to have arrived in the region from Italy, and then spread east as they fled violent oppression and followed more favorable ownership laws. By surface analysis, Ashkenaz + -i.
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
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Using “Ashkenazi”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-S-H-K-E-N-A-Z-I - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌæʃkɪˈnɑːzi/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.