askari
"askari" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“askari” is an uncommon English word, ranked #71,291 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #71,291
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A member of a local African military or police unit, usually one serving in a European colonial force.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | askari |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #71,291 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “askari” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for askari is 6 letters long, classified as a noun. Corpus data places it at rank #71,291 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A member of a local African military or police unit, usually one serving in a European colonial force.".
Zero misspellings are on record for askari in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Swahili askari (“soldier”), from Arabic عَسْكَرِيّ (ʕaskariyy). Doublet of lascar. The correct English form is askari, spelled A-S-K-A-R-I.
Definition
- 1A member of a local African military or police unit, usually one serving in a European colonial force.
Etymology
From Swahili askari (“soldier”), from Arabic عَسْكَرِيّ (ʕaskariyy). Doublet of lascar.
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 “askari”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-S-K-A-R-I - 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.