caiman
/ˈkeɪ.mən/
"caiman" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“caiman” is uncommon English (frequency #73,940 among 43,570 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #73,940
- frequency rank, English
- 43,570
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any of the relatively small crocodilians of the genus Caiman, within the family Alligatoridae.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | caiman |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkeɪ.mən/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #73,940 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “caiman” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
caiman is uncommon English at frequency #73,940 among 43,570 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈkeɪ.mən/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for caiman, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Spanish caimán or Portuguese caimão, from Kari'na acayouman. The correct English form is caiman, spelled C-A-I-M-A-N.
Definition
- 1Any of the relatively small crocodilians of the genus Caiman, within the family Alligatoridae.
- 2A crocodilian of the subfamily Caimaninae, which includes the very large black caiman.
- 3A semi-aquatic lizard, of the genus Dracaena, found in South America. To differentiate from caimans, they are referred to as caiman lizards.
Etymology
From Spanish caimán or Portuguese caimão, from Kari'na acayouman.
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 “caiman”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-A-I-M-A-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈkeɪ.mən/ (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
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.