carafe
/kəˈɹæf/
"carafe" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“carafe” is uncommon English (frequency #78,454 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #78,454
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A bottle, usually glass and with a flared lip, used for serving water, wine, or other beverages.
Corpus desk
Index EN-carafe · carafe · English
carafe · rank #78,454 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #78,454
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH cappy
Nearest frequency peer: cappy (-1 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 “carafe”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- cama
cama
21,551 corpus weight
- cappy
cappy
21,548 corpus weight
- carafe
carafe
21,547 corpus weight
- carburettor
carburettor
21,546 corpus weight
- carn
carn
21,544 corpus weight
- Carpathians
Carpathians
21,543 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “carafe” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | carafe |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kəˈɹæf/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #78,454 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “carafe” in English
Rare enough to double-check
carafe is uncommon English at frequency #78,454 among 5,599 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /kəˈɹæf/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
carafe has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: First attested 1786, from French carafe, from Italian caraffa, probably from Arabic غُرْفَة (ḡurfa, “cup or dipper”), from غَرَفَ (ḡarafa, “to ladle”). Doublet of carboy. The correct English form is carafe, spelled C-A-R-A-F-E.
Definition
- 1A bottle, usually glass and with a flared lip, used for serving water, wine, or other beverages.
- 2A glass pot with a spout for pouring, used both for serving coffee and as a receptacle during the brewing process.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how carafe appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Amongst the scattered letters and papers, there stood a claret jug, a large carafe of water, and an empty glass.
Emma brings out the carafe of dark coffee.
Etymology
First attested 1786, from French carafe, from Italian caraffa, probably from Arabic غُرْفَة (ḡurfa, “cup or dipper”), from غَرَفَ (ḡarafa, “to ladle”). Doublet of carboy.
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
How do you spell "carafe"?
What does "carafe" mean?
How do you pronounce "carafe"?
What is the origin of the word "carafe"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "carafe", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).