chive
/t͡ʃaɪv/
"chive" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“chive” is uncommon English (frequency #73,962 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #73,962
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A perennial plant, Allium schoenoprasum, related to the onion.
Corpus desk
Index EN-chive · chive · English
chive · rank #73,962 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #73,962
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH choreo
Nearest frequency peer: choreo (+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 “chive”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- chargeback
chargeback
26,043 corpus weight
- charitably
charitably
26,042 corpus weight
- chive
chive
26,039 corpus weight
- choreo
choreo
26,038 corpus weight
- chugs
chugs
26,036 corpus weight
- clearness
clearness
26,035 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “chive” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | chive |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /t͡ʃaɪv/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #73,962 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “chive” in English
Rare enough to double-check
chive is uncommon English at frequency #73,962 among 5,599 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /t͡ʃaɪv/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for chive, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English chive~cyve, from Old French chive~cive, from Latin cēpa (“onion”). The correct English form is chive, spelled C-H-I-V-E.
Definition
- 1A perennial plant, Allium schoenoprasum, related to the onion.
- 2The leaves of this plant used as a herb.
- 3The spring onion; the green onion; the scallion.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how chive appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Chive herb. (attributive use)
What a splendid pie, pizza-pizza pie / Every minute, every second, buy, buy, buy, buy, buy / Pepperoni and green peppers, mushrooms, olive, chives
Etymology
From Middle English chive~cyve, from Old French chive~cive, from Latin cēpa (“onion”).
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 "chive", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).