chorister
/ˈkɒɹɪstə(ɹ)/
"chorister" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“chorister” is uncommon English (frequency #90,288 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #90,288
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A singer in a choir; especially a child in a church or cathedral choir.
Corpus desk
Index EN-chorister · chorister · English
chorister · rank #90,288 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #90,288
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH Chumash
Nearest frequency peer: Chumash (+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 “chorister”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Chernov
Chernov
9,720 corpus weight
- Chicagoan
Chicagoan
9,719 corpus weight
- chorister
chorister
9,713 corpus weight
- Chumash
Chumash
9,712 corpus weight
- Cipriano
Cipriano
9,710 corpus weight
- Clackmannan…
Clackmannanshire
9,706 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “chorister” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | chorister |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkɒɹɪstə(ɹ)/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #90,288 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “chorister” in English
Rare enough to double-check
chorister is uncommon English at frequency #90,288 among 5,599 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈkɒɹɪstə(ɹ)/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
chorister doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Derived from late Middle English queristre, from an Anglo-Norman variant of Old French cueriste, from cuer (see Middle French cuer). Equivalent to choir + -ster. The correct English form is chorister, spelled C-H-O-R-I-S-T-E-R.
Definition
- 1A singer in a choir; especially a child in a church or cathedral choir.
- 2A director or leader of a choral group.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how chorister appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
None of the new choristers can sing in tune but they will learn soon enough.
These be my querysters To helpe me to synge, My hawkes to mattens rynge!
Etymology
Derived from late Middle English queristre, from an Anglo-Norman variant of Old French cueriste, from cuer (see Middle French cuer). Equivalent to choir + -ster.
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 "chorister", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).