coolie

/ˈkuːli/

//ˈkuːli// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"coolie" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“coolie” is uncommon English (frequency #62,066 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#62,066
frequency rank, English
5,599
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An unskilled Asian worker, usually of Chinese or Indian descent; a labourer; a porter. Coolies were frequently transported to other countries in the 19th and early 20th centuries as indentured labo...

Corpus desk

Index EN-coolie · coolie · English

coolie · rank #62,066 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #62,066
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,599
  • PHOTO-FINISH conscientious…

Nearest frequency peer: conscientiously (-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 “coolie”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “coolie” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for coolie
PropertyValue
Headwordcoolie
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈkuːli/
Letters6
Frequency rank#62,066
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “coolie” in English

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).cooliefalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “conscientiously” (#62,065), “Cordero” (#62,067), “corpora” (#62,069). Among 5,599 “C” headwords, “coolie” is #62,066. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

coolie is uncommon English at frequency #62,066 among 5,599 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈkuːli/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for coolie in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Hindustani क़ुली / قلی (qulī, “hired laborer”), possibly from Ottoman Turkish قول (kul, “servant”). Another theory says that it is named after Gujarati કોળી (koḷī), a Gujarati tribe or caste. Other forms occur in Bengali কুলি (kuli) and Tamil கூலி (kūl… The correct English form is coolie, spelled C-O-O-L-I-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    An unskilled Asian worker, usually of Chinese or Indian descent; a labourer; a porter. Coolies were frequently transported to other countries in the 19th and early 20th centuries as indentured labourers.
  2. 2
    An Indian or a person of Indian descent.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how coolie appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. One day when the Man's Wife and the Tertium Quid had just arrived in the Cemetery, they saw some coolies breaking ground.
  2. From Hui-li-chou northwards I was escorted by real soldiers, quite of the new service. They looked rather shipshape in khaki suits and puttees, and their guns were of a good model, but they handled them in careless fashion at first, belabouring laden ponies and even coolies who were slow in getting out of the way of my chair.

Etymology

From Hindustani क़ुली / قلی (qulī, “hired laborer”), possibly from Ottoman Turkish قول (kul, “servant”). Another theory says that it is named after Gujarati કોળી (koḷī), a Gujarati tribe or caste. Other forms occur in Bengali কুলি (kuli) and Tamil கூலி (kūli, “daily hire”). Possibly also influenced by Hindustani کولی (kolī) / कोली (kolī, “weaver; low-class”). In Kurdish Koile (کۆیلە) and Quli (قولى): Slave, Servant. Kawli (Keweli): Low-Class, Gypsy. Mandarin 苦力 (kǔlì, “hard labor”) may have been influenced by cognates of the above Hindi word in other languages and may have further influenced English.

This word in other languages

culi(Español)coolie(Français)Kuli(Deutsch)

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

How do you spell "coolie"?
"coolie" is spelled C-O-O-L-I-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈkuːli/.
What does "coolie" mean?
As a noun, "coolie" means: An unskilled Asian worker, usually of Chinese or Indian descent; a labourer; a porter. Coolies were frequently transported to other countries in the 19th and early 20th centuries as indentured labo...
How do you pronounce "coolie"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "coolie" is /ˈkuːli/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "coolie"?
From Hindustani क़ुली / قلی (qulī, “hired laborer”), possibly from Ottoman Turkish قول (kul, “servant”). Another theory says that it is named after Gujarati કોળી (koḷī), a Gujarati tribe or caste. Other forms occur in Bengali কুলি (kuli) and Tamil... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "coolie", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

comely#62,060Clorox#62,054cuvier#62,078Dabney#62,080

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list