China
/ˈt͡ʃaɪnə/
"china" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“China” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #824 in English word frequency and used as a proper noun.
- #824
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A cultural region and civilization in East Asia, occupying the region around the Yellow, Yangtze, and Pearl Rivers, taken as a whole under its various dynasties.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | China |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈt͡ʃaɪnə/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #824 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “China” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for China is 5 letters long, classified as a proper noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈt͡ʃaɪnə/. Corpus data places it at rank #824 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 14 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for China, with forms such as "cchina", "chhina", and "chian". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "CIA", "chip", "coin", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Portuguese China, from possibly Venetan Cina probably under influence from Old French Chin, from Classical Persian چین (čīn) under influence from Medieval Latin Sina (“China”), from Middle Persian 𐭰𐭩𐭭 (Čīn, “China”), from Sanskrit चीन (cīna, “the Ch… The correct English form is China, spelled C-H-I-N-A.
Definition
- 1A cultural region and civilization in East Asia, occupying the region around the Yellow, Yangtze, and Pearl Rivers, taken as a whole under its various dynasties.
- 2A large country in East Asia, occupying the region around the Yellow, Yangtze, and Pearl Rivers; the People's Republic of China, since 1949.
- 3Synonym of mainland China.
- 4China in One China, asserting that there is only one de jure Chinese nation
- 5Any of the empires occupying similar territory to that of the modern nation of China, ruled under various dynasties up through the early 20th century.
- 6The Republic of China prior to 1949, and sometimes after that time, particularly up through the early 1970's or so (when the People's Republic of China assumed the United Nations seat allocated to China).
- 7A female given name.
- 8An unincorporated community in Jefferson County, Indiana, United States.
- 9A town in Kennebec County, Maine, United States.
- 10An unincorporated community in Howell County, Missouri, United States.
- 11A hamlet in Delaware County, New York, United States.
- 12A small city in Jefferson County, Texas, United States.
- 13A municipality and town in Nuevo León, Mexico.
- 14A surname.
Etymology
From Portuguese China, from possibly Venetan Cina probably under influence from Old French Chin, from Classical Persian چین (čīn) under influence from Medieval Latin Sina (“China”), from Middle Persian 𐭰𐭩𐭭 (Čīn, “China”), from Sanskrit चीन (cīna, “the Chinese; China”) of uncertain etymology. It is usually thought to be derived from Chinese 秦 (Qín) (sm Qín, mc d͡ziɪn, oc *zin, "Qin"), the westernmost ancient Chinese state, but other theories have been proposed, including derivation from 晉 /晋 (jìn) (sm Jìn, mc t͡siɪn, oc *ʔsins, "Jin"), another important ancient state; 荊 /荆 (jīng) (sm Jīng, mc kˠiæŋ, oc *keŋ, "Chu"), the southernmost ancient Chinese state; or Zina, the endonym of the people of the Yelang kingdom. See "Names of China" and "Chinas" at Wikipedia. As a female name, usually derived via china (“porcelain”) and china doll, ultimately from the same source.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: cchina,chhina,chian,chinna,chnia,cihna,hcina
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of China - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 “China”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-H-I-N-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈt͡ʃaɪnə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “CIA” - see the side-by-side comparison. China vs CIA
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.