dower
/ˈdaʊ.əɹ/
"dower" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“dower” is an uncommon English word, ranked #57,986 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #57,986
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The part of or interest in a deceased husband's property provided to his widow, usually in the form of a life estate.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | dower |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈdaʊ.əɹ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #57,986 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “dower” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for dower is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈdaʊ.əɹ/. Corpus data places it at rank #57,986 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
dower has no tracked misspelling variants, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English dower, dowere, from Old French doeire, from Medieval Latin dōtārium, from Latin dōs. Doublet of dowry. The correct English form is dower, spelled D-O-W-E-R.
Definition
- 1The part of or interest in a deceased husband's property provided to his widow, usually in the form of a life estate.
- 2Property given by a groom to his bride or her family, at or before their wedding, in order to legitimize the marriage
- 3That with which one is gifted or endowed; endowment; gift.
Etymology
From Middle English dower, dowere, from Old French doeire, from Medieval Latin dōtārium, from Latin dōs. Doublet of dowry.
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.
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Using “dower”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-O-W-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈdaʊ.əɹ/ (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.