chickpea
/ˈt͡ʃɪkˌpiː/
"chickpea" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“chickpea” is uncommon English (frequency #52,857 among 43,570 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #52,857
- frequency rank, English
- 43,570
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An annual plant (Cicer arietinum) in the pea family, widely cultivated for the edible seeds in its short inflated pods.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | chickpea |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈt͡ʃɪkˌpiː/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #52,857 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “chickpea” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
chickpea is uncommon English at frequency #52,857 among 43,570 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈt͡ʃɪkˌpiː/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
chickpea has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: Calque of French pois chiche, from pois (“pea”) + chiche, from Latin cicer (“chickpea”). The correct English form is chickpea, spelled C-H-I-C-K-P-E-A.
Definition
- 1An annual plant (Cicer arietinum) in the pea family, widely cultivated for the edible seeds in its short inflated pods.
- 2A seed of this plant, often used as a food.
Etymology
Calque of French pois chiche, from pois (“pea”) + chiche, from Latin cicer (“chickpea”).
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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Using “chickpea”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-H-I-C-K-P-E-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈt͡ʃɪkˌpiː/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.