Dowson
/ˈdaʊ.sən/
"dowson" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Dowson” is an uncommon English word, ranked #87,228 in English word frequency and used as a proper noun.
- #87,228
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A surname originating as a patronymic.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Dowson |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈdaʊ.sən/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #87,228 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Dowson” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Dowson is 6 letters long, classified as a proper noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈdaʊ.sən/. Corpus data places it at rank #87,228 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A surname originating as a patronymic.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for Dowson, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our dataset records no confusable match here, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From a Dow as a diminutive of David + -son. The correct English form is Dowson, spelled D-O-W-S-O-N.
Definition
- 1A surname originating as a patronymic.
Etymology
From a Dow as a diminutive of David + -son.
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 “Dowson”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-O-W-S-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈdaʊ.sən/ (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.