baobab
/ˈbeɪə(ʊ)bab/
"baobab" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“baobab” is uncommon English (frequency #72,114 among 4,121 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #72,114
- frequency rank, English
- 4,121
- “B” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A tree, Adansonia digitata, native to tropical Africa, having a broad swollen trunk and edible gourd-like hanging fruits.
Corpus desk
Index EN-baobab · baobab · English
baobab · rank #72,114 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #72,114
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,121
- PHOTO-FINISH Bareilles
Nearest frequency peer: Bareilles (+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 “baobab”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- backsliding
backsliding
27,892 corpus weight
- Badawi
Badawi
27,891 corpus weight
- Badshah
Badshah
27,890 corpus weight
- baobab
baobab
27,887 corpus weight
- Bareilles
Bareilles
27,886 corpus weight
- basha
basha
27,885 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “baobab” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | baobab |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbeɪə(ʊ)bab/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #72,114 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “baobab” in English
Rare enough to double-check
baobab is uncommon English at frequency #72,114 among 4,121 “B” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈbeɪə(ʊ)bab/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for baobab, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Medieval Latin bahobab, from Arabic أَبُو حِبَاب (ʔabū ḥibāb, “father of many seeds”), from أَبُو (ʔabū, “father”) + حَبّ (ḥabb, “seed”). The correct English form is baobab, spelled B-A-O-B-A-B.
Definition
- 1A tree, Adansonia digitata, native to tropical Africa, having a broad swollen trunk and edible gourd-like hanging fruits.
- 2Any tree of the genus Adansonia.
Etymology
Borrowed from Medieval Latin bahobab, from Arabic أَبُو حِبَاب (ʔabū ḥibāb, “father of many seeds”), from أَبُو (ʔabū, “father”) + حَبّ (ḥabb, “seed”).
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "baobab", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).