Demerara
/dɛməˈɹɛəɹə/
"demerara" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Demerara” is uncommon English (frequency #67,359 among 26,416 “D” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #67,359
- frequency rank, English
- 26,416
- “D” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Demerara |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /dɛməˈɹɛəɹə/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #67,359 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Demerara” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
Demerara is uncommon English at frequency #67,359 among 26,416 “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
- 1A 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.
- 2A 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
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Using “Demerara”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-E-M-E-R-A-R-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /dɛməˈɹɛəɹə/ (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.