cornflower
/ˈkɔɹnˌflaʊ.ɚ/
"cornflower" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cornflower” is an uncommon English word, ranked #79,411 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #79,411
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A small annual plant in the family Asteraceae, Centaurea cyanus, usually with bushy blue flowers which grows natively in European cornfields (i.e. wheatfields).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cornflower |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkɔɹnˌflaʊ.ɚ/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #79,411 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “cornflower” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for cornflower is 10 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈkɔɹnˌflaʊ.ɚ/. Corpus data places it at rank #79,411 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
cornflower has no tracked misspelling variants, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From corn + flower. Piecewise doublet of cornflour. The correct English form is cornflower, spelled C-O-R-N-F-L-O-W-E-R.
Definition
- 1A small annual plant in the family Asteraceae, Centaurea cyanus, usually with bushy blue flowers which grows natively in European cornfields (i.e. wheatfields).
- 2A plant of the species Cichorium intybus.
- 3A color, cornflower blue.
Etymology
From corn + flower. Piecewise doublet of cornflour.
Synonyms
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 “cornflower”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-O-R-N-F-L-O-W-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈkɔɹnˌflaʊ.ɚ/ (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
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.