Curaçao
/ˈkjuːɹəsaʊ/
"curacao" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Curaçao” is uncommon English (frequency #78,501 among 43,570 “C” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #78,501
- frequency rank, English
- 43,570
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An island and constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the southern part of the Caribbean Sea off the west coast of Venezuela.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Curaçao |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈkjuːɹəsaʊ/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #78,501 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Curaçao” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
Curaçao is uncommon English at frequency #78,501 among 43,570 “C” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed /ˈkjuːɹəsaʊ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "An island and constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the southern part of the Caribbean Sea off the west coast of Venezuela.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for Curaçao, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: Unadapted borrowing from Dutch Curaçao, from Spanish Curaçao, probably a transcription of a Caquetío (Arawakan) endonym. The correct English form is Curaçao, spelled C-U-R-A-Ç-A-O.
Definition
- 1An island and constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the southern part of the Caribbean Sea off the west coast of Venezuela.
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from Dutch Curaçao, from Spanish Curaçao, probably a transcription of a Caquetío (Arawakan) endonym.
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 “Curaçao”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-U-R-A-Ç-A-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈkjuːɹəsaʊ/ (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.