Demerara

/dɛməˈɹɛəɹə/

//dɛməˈɹɛəɹə// name

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"demerara" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“Demerara” is uncommon English (frequency #67,359 among 3,470 “D” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#67,359
frequency rank, English
3,470
“D” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A river which rises in the rainforests of Guyana, and flows north to the Atlantic Ocean, which the country's capital of Georgetown is situated on; in full, the Demerara River.

Corpus desk

Index EN-demerara · Demerara · English

Demerara · rank #67,359 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #67,359
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,470
  • PHOTO-FINISH demote

Nearest frequency peer: demote (+1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “Demerara”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “Demerara” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for Demerara
PropertyValue
HeadwordDemerara
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechProper noun
IPA/dɛməˈɹɛəɹə/
Letters8
Frequency rank#67,359
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “Demerara” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).Demerarafalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “demote” (#67,360), “Delon” (#67,357), “dehydrate” (#67,355). Among 3,470 “D” headwords, “Demerara” is #67,359. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Demerara is uncommon English at frequency #67,359 among 3,470 “D” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed /dɛməˈɹɛəɹə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Demerara has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: The placename derives from an Arawak word. Perhaps Malali ("fast running stream"), which would have originally been the name of a section of rapids, from which the Dutch called the whole river de Malali ("the Malali"), which (with incorporation of the defin… The correct English form is Demerara, spelled D-E-M-E-R-A-R-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    A river which rises in the rainforests of Guyana, and flows north to the Atlantic Ocean, which the country's capital of Georgetown is situated on; in full, the Demerara River.
  2. 2
    A region of Guyana in South America, Essequebo en Demerary (Essequibo and Demerara), formerly a Dutch (later British) colony, located around the lower courses of this river.

Etymology

The placename derives from an Arawak word. Perhaps Malali ("fast running stream"), which would have originally been the name of a section of rapids, from which the Dutch called the whole river de Malali ("the Malali"), which (with incorporation of the definite article into the name, and alternation of l and r) became Demerara. Alternatively, perhaps Immenary or Dumaruni meaning “river of the letterwood”. The sugar is so-called because it was grown in the region around the river.

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

How do you spell "Demerara"?
"Demerara" is spelled D-E-M-E-R-A-R-A. The IPA pronunciation is /dɛməˈɹɛəɹə/.
What does "Demerara" mean?
As a proper noun, "Demerara" means: A river which rises in the rainforests of Guyana, and flows north to the Atlantic Ocean, which the country's capital of Georgetown is situated on; in full, the Demerara River.
How do you pronounce "Demerara"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Demerara" is /dɛməˈɹɛəɹə/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "Demerara"?
The placename derives from an Arawak word. Perhaps Malali ("fast running stream"), which would have originally been the name of a section of rapids, from which the Dutch called the whole river de Malali ("the Malali"), which (with incorporation of... 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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Demerara", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

designee#67,364dauphine#67,351Dalglish#67,349daiquiri#67,348

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list