capybara
/kapɪˈbɑːɹə/
"capybara" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“capybara” is uncommon English (frequency #79,359 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #79,359
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A large semi-aquatic South American rodent of the genus Hydrochoerus.
Corpus desk
Index EN-capybara · capybara · English
capybara · rank #79,359 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #79,359
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH Canmore
Nearest frequency peer: Canmore (-2 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 “capybara”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- cadastral
cadastral
20,649 corpus weight
- Callao
Callao
20,648 corpus weight
- Calvados
Calvados
20,647 corpus weight
- Canmore
Canmore
20,644 corpus weight
- capybara
capybara
20,642 corpus weight
- Carwyn
Carwyn
20,638 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “capybara” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | capybara |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kapɪˈbɑːɹə/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #79,359 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “capybara” in English
Rare enough to double-check
capybara is uncommon English at frequency #79,359 among 5,599 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /kapɪˈbɑːɹə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for capybara, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Spanish capibara, from Portuguese capivara, from Old Tupi kapi'iûara (literally “grass eater”). The correct English form is capybara, spelled C-A-P-Y-B-A-R-A.
Definition
- 1A large semi-aquatic South American rodent of the genus Hydrochoerus.
- 2The greater capybara.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how capybara appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
“Our fires burned well,” continued Tom, “and we roasted our young capybara to perfection; we only wanted salt and pepper, and an onion or two to make it delicious.[…]"
It was tenanted by the small caymans and by capybaras—the largest known rodent, a huge aquatic guinea-pig, the size of a small sheep.
Etymology
From Spanish capibara, from Portuguese capivara, from Old Tupi kapi'iûara (literally “grass eater”).
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 "capybara", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).