Burma
/ˈbɝmə/
"burma" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Burma” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #13,474 in English word frequency and used as a proper noun.
- #13,474
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A country in Southeast Asia. Official name: Republic of the Union of Myanmar. Capital: Naypyidaw. Officially known as Myanmar.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Burma |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈbɝmə/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #13,474 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Burma” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Burma is 5 letters long, classified as a proper noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈbɝmə/. Corpus data places it at rank #13,474 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A country in Southeast Asia. Official name: Republic of the Union of Myanmar. Capital: Naypyidaw. Officially known as Myanmar.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for Burma, with forms such as "bburma", "bruma", and "bumra". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "burn", "bury", "Burt", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed, initially into British English, from Burmese ဗမာ (ba.ma), colloquial form of မြန်မာ (mranma); see Myanmar for more. Like in the word Myanmar, the r was not originally pronounced (and is not present in the Burmese term), it is a vowel-lengthening d… The correct English form is Burma, spelled B-U-R-M-A.
Definition
- 1A country in Southeast Asia. Official name: Republic of the Union of Myanmar. Capital: Naypyidaw. Officially known as Myanmar.
Etymology
Borrowed, initially into British English, from Burmese ဗမာ (ba.ma), colloquial form of မြန်မာ (mranma); see Myanmar for more. Like in the word Myanmar, the r was not originally pronounced (and is not present in the Burmese term), it is a vowel-lengthening device used by non-rhotic (British) dialects; compare gorm.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: bburma,bruma,bumra,buram,burmma,burrma,ubrma
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Burma - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "Burma"?
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Using “Burma”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-U-R-M-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈbɝmə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “burn” - see the side-by-side comparison. Burma vs burn
- 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.