chutzpah
/ˈxʊts.pə/
"chutzpah" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“chutzpah” is uncommon English (frequency #64,985 among 43,570 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #64,985
- frequency rank, English
- 43,570
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Nearly arrogant courage; utter audacity, effrontery or impudence; supreme self-confidence; exaggerated self-opinion.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | chutzpah |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈxʊts.pə/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #64,985 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “chutzpah” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
chutzpah is uncommon English at frequency #64,985 among 43,570 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈxʊts.pə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Nearly arrogant courage; utter audacity, effrontery or impudence; supreme self-confidence; exaggerated self-opinion.".
Zero misspellings are on record for chutzpah in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: Originated c. 1890–95 from Yiddish חוצפּה (khutspe), which was either borrowed via Medieval Hebrew or directly came from Aramaic חוּצְפָּא (ḥuṣpā, “audacity, boldness”), derived from חֲצַף (ḥăṣap̄, “to be impudent, arrogant”). The correct English form is chutzpah, spelled C-H-U-T-Z-P-A-H.
Definition
- 1Nearly arrogant courage; utter audacity, effrontery or impudence; supreme self-confidence; exaggerated self-opinion.
Etymology
Originated c. 1890–95 from Yiddish חוצפּה (khutspe), which was either borrowed via Medieval Hebrew or directly came from Aramaic חוּצְפָּא (ḥuṣpā, “audacity, boldness”), derived from חֲצַף (ḥăṣap̄, “to be impudent, arrogant”).
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 “chutzpah”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-H-U-T-Z-P-A-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈxʊts.pə/ (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.