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cannabis

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

8 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "cannabis", 8-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "cannabis" 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 "cannabis" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

cannabis is aEnglishnoun. It means: A tall annual dioecious plant (Cannabis, especially Cannabis sativa), native to central Asia and having alternate, palmately divided leaves and tough bast fibers. Pronounced /ˈkænəbɪs/. It ranks #6,768 in English word frequency.

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Key facts for cannabis
PropertyValue
Headwordcannabis
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈkænəbɪs/
Letters8
Frequency rank#6,768
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of cannabis in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for cannabis is 8 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈkænəbɪs/. Corpus data places it at rank #6,768 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 10 documented wrong-spelling variants for cannabis, with forms such as "acnnabis", "canabis", and "cananbis". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Latin cannabis (“hemp”), from Ancient Greek κάνναβις (kánnabis). See there for more. Doublet of canvas and hemp. 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 cannabis, spelled C-A-N-N-A-B-I-S, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    A tall annual dioecious plant (Cannabis, especially Cannabis sativa), native to central Asia and having alternate, palmately divided leaves and tough bast fibers.
  2. 2
    A mildly euphoriant or sedating, intoxicating hallucinogenic drug prepared from various parts of this plant.
  3. 3
    The purified and decarboxylated resin of the cannabis plant used for medicinal purposes rather than for any intoxicating effects.

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cannabis (“hemp”), from Ancient Greek κάνναβις (kánnabis). See there for more. Doublet of canvas and hemp.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: acnnabis,canabis,cananbis,cannabbis,cannabiss,cannabsi,cannaibs,cannbais,ccannabis,cnanabis

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for cannabis

Misspelling Variants of "cannabis"

acnnabis8canabis7cananbis8cannabbis9cannabiss9cannabsi8cannaibs8cannbais8
Misspelling Variants of "cannabis"

Frequency rank: #6,768 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "cannabis"?
"cannabis" is spelled C-A-N-N-A-B-I-S. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈkænəbɪs/.
What does "cannabis" mean?
As a noun, "cannabis" means: A tall annual dioecious plant (Cannabis, especially Cannabis sativa), native to central Asia and having alternate, palmately divided leaves and tough bast fibers.
What are common misspellings of "cannabis"?
Common misspellings include "acnnabis", "canabis", "cananbis", "cannabbis", "cannabiss". The correct spelling is "cannabis".
How do you pronounce "cannabis"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "cannabis" is /ˈkænəbɪs/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "cannabis"?
Borrowed from Latin cannabis (“hemp”), from Ancient Greek κάνναβις (kánnabis). See there for more. Doublet of canvas and hemp. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter C in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.