curare
/kjʊˈɹɑː.ɹi/
"curare" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“curare” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A plant, Strychnos toxifera, formerly used in arrow poisons in South America due to its D-tubocurarine content.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | curare |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kjʊˈɹɑː.ɹi/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “curare” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
curare is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /kjʊˈɹɑː.ɹi/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for curare, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From a Cariban language; compare Kari'na urari, Trió urari, wïrari, Akawaio urari, Pemon urari, Macushi urari, referring to various vines of genus Strychnos. The correct English form is curare, spelled C-U-R-A-R-E.
Definition
- 1A plant, Strychnos toxifera, formerly used in arrow poisons in South America due to its D-tubocurarine content.
- 2Other South American plants with similar toxins that were also used in arrow poisons, mostly in the family Menispermaceae.
- 3A substance containing the alkaloid D-tubocurarine, used historically as a muscle relaxant during surgery.
Etymology
From a Cariban language; compare Kari'na urari, Trió urari, wïrari, Akawaio urari, Pemon urari, Macushi urari, referring to various vines of genus Strychnos.
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
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Using “curare”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-U-R-A-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kjʊˈɹɑː.ɹi/ (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.