Dahomey
/dəˈhəʊmi/
"dahomey" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Dahomey” is uncommon English (frequency #76,687 among 26,416 “D” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #76,687
- frequency rank, English
- 26,416
- “D” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A former kingdom in West Africa, existing from c. 1600–1904 and located in the southern part of present-day Benin.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Dahomey |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /dəˈhəʊmi/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #76,687 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Dahomey” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
Dahomey is uncommon English at frequency #76,687 among 26,416 “D” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed /dəˈhəʊmi/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for Dahomey in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Fon dã homè (“belly of Dã; snake's belly”). The correct English form is Dahomey, spelled D-A-H-O-M-E-Y.
Definition
- 1A former kingdom in West Africa, existing from c. 1600–1904 and located in the southern part of present-day Benin.
- 2Former name of Benin: a country in West Africa; used from 1958–1975. Official name: Republic of Dahomey.
Etymology
From Fon dã homè (“belly of Dã; snake's belly”).
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 “Dahomey”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-A-H-O-M-E-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /dəˈhəʊmi/ (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.