Costa Rican

noun

"costa-rican" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“Costa Rican” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
11
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A person from Costa Rica or of Costa Rican descent.

Key facts for Costa Rican
PropertyValue
HeadwordCosta Rican
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters11
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “Costa Rican” sits in English frequency

Costa Rican falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Costa Rican is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A person from Costa Rica or of Costa Rican descent.".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for Costa Rican, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Costa Rica + -an. The correct English form is Costa Rican, spelled C-O-S-T-A- -R-I-C-A-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    A person from Costa Rica or of Costa Rican descent.

Etymology

From Costa Rica + -an.

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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Costa Rican"?
"Costa Rican" is spelled C-O-S-T-A- -R-I-C-A-N.
What does "Costa Rican" mean?
As a noun, "Costa Rican" means: A person from Costa Rica or of Costa Rican descent.
What is the origin of the word "Costa Rican"?
From Costa Rica + -an. 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.

Using “Costa Rican”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is C-O-S-T-A- -R-I-C-A-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list