Cephas
/ˈsi.fəs/
"cephas" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Cephas” is uncommon English (frequency #96,846 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #96,846
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The apostle Peter, using the name given to him by Jesus.
Corpus desk
Index EN-cephas · Cephas · English
Cephas · rank #96,846 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #96,846
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH centum
Nearest frequency peer: centum (-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 “Cephas”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Carra
Carra
3,164 corpus weight
- Catford
Catford
3,160 corpus weight
- centum
centum
3,156 corpus weight
- Cephas
Cephas
3,155 corpus weight
- Cerny
Cerny
3,154 corpus weight
- chela
chela
3,147 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “Cephas” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Cephas |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈsi.fəs/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #96,846 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “Cephas” in English
Rare enough to double-check
Cephas is uncommon English at frequency #96,846 among 5,599 “C” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed /ˈsi.fəs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Cephas doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Latin Cēphās, from Ancient Greek Κηφᾶς (Kēphâs), from Aramaic כֵּיפָא/Classical Syriac ܟܐܦܐ (kēp̄ā, “stone, rock”). The correct English form is Cephas, spelled C-E-P-H-A-S.
Definition
- 1The apostle Peter, using the name given to him by Jesus.
- 2A male given name from Aramaic of biblical origin.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how Cephas appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin Cēphās, from Ancient Greek Κηφᾶς (Kēphâs), from Aramaic כֵּיפָא/Classical Syriac ܟܐܦܐ (kēp̄ā, “stone, rock”).
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 "Cephas", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).