california
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
10 characters
Language
English
word origin
Source
Wiktionary
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "california", 10-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Wiktionary, and usage frequency ranked against an open word-frequency list covering the top 100,000 English words. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "california" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "california" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
California is aEnglishname. It means: The most populous state of the United States. Capital: Sacramento. Largest city: Los Angeles. Pronounced /ˌkæ.lɪˈfɔː.ni.ə/. It ranks #1,067 in English word frequency. Often confused with Californian.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | California |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Name |
| IPA | /ˌkæ.lɪˈfɔː.ni.ə/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #1,067 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for California is 10 letters long, classified as aname, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌkæ.lɪˈfɔː.ni.ə/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,067 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 27 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for California, with forms such as "aclifornia", "cailfornia", and "calfiornia". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "Californian", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Probably Spanish after California, a Utopian island of the Amazons described in Las sergas de Esplandián, a 16th-century Spanish novel. The name comes from the fictional island's Muslim-allied queen, Calafia, whose name may be a play on Arabic خَلِيفَة (ḵal… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is California, spelled C-A-L-I-F-O-R-N-I-A, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1The most populous state of the United States. Capital: Sacramento. Largest city: Los Angeles.
- 2A region on the west coast of North America comprising the US state of California and the Baja California peninsula in Mexico; historically also including other areas in Alta California and Baja California.
- 3Several places in the United States:
- 4Several places in the United States:
- 5Several places in the United States:
- 6Several places in the United States:
- 7Several places in the United States:
- 8Several places in the United States:
- 9Several places in the United States:
- 10Several places in the United States:
- 11Several places in the United States:
- 12Several places in England:
- 13Several places in England:
- 14Several places in England:
- 15Several places in England:
- 16Several places in England:
- 17Several places in England:
- 18Several places in England:
- 19A village in Falkirk council area, Scotland (OS grid ref NS9076).
- 20A community in Ontario, Canada.
- 21A town in Santander department, Colombia.
- 22A town in Usulután department, El Salvador.
- 23A neighborhood of Casablanca, Morocco.
- 24A barangay of Barotac Viejo, Iloilo, Philippines.
- 25A barangay of Ubay, Bohol, Philippines.
- 26A town in Trinidad and Tobago.
- 27University of California, Berkeley.
Etymology
Probably Spanish after California, a Utopian island of the Amazons described in Las sergas de Esplandián, a 16th-century Spanish novel. The name comes from the fictional island's Muslim-allied queen, Calafia, whose name may be a play on Arabic خَلِيفَة (ḵalīfa, “caliph”). For more information see: Etymology of California.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: aclifornia,cailfornia,calfiornia,califfornia,califonria,califorina,californai,californnia,califorrnia,califronia,caliofrnia,callifornia,ccalifornia,claifornia
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for California
Misspelling Variants of "California"
Frequency rank: #1,067 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter C in our English index: