drow

/dɹəʊ/

//dɹəʊ// noun

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

"drow" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“drow” is uncommon English (frequency #74,045 among 3,470 “D” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#74,045
frequency rank, English
3,470
“D” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A member of a race of folkloric beings from Orkney and Shetland; cognate to the Scandinavian troll.

Corpus desk

Index EN-drow · drow · English

drow · rank #74,045 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #74,045
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,470
  • PHOTO-FINISH Duracell

Nearest frequency peer: Duracell (+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 “drow”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for drow
PropertyValue
Headworddrow
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/dɹəʊ/
Letters4
Frequency rank#74,045
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “drow” in English

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).drowfalls in this rarity band:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “Duracell” (#74,046), “Downe” (#74,043), “durbar” (#74,047). Among 3,470 “D” headwords, “drow” is #74,045. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

drow is uncommon English at frequency #74,045 among 3,470 “D” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /dɹəʊ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for drow, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Shetlandic and Orcadian Scots drow, from Norn *drou, *drau (compare 18th c. Norwegian drau, modern drov, drauv), alternatively *drog, from Old Norse draugr (“malevolent revenant”); along the variation trow, intermixed with Norn troll, from Old Norse tr… The correct English form is drow, spelled D-R-O-W.

Definition

  1. 1
    A member of a race of folkloric beings from Orkney and Shetland; cognate to the Scandinavian troll.
  2. 2
    A member of a race of folkloric beings from Orkney and Shetland; cognate to the Scandinavian troll.
  3. 3
    A member of a race of folkloric beings from Orkney and Shetland; cognate to the Scandinavian troll.
  4. 4
    A member of a fictional race of dark elves in various fantasy settings, such as Dungeons & Dragons.
  5. 5
    A fictional constructed language spoken by the Drow.

Etymology

From Shetlandic and Orcadian Scots drow, from Norn *drou, *drau (compare 18th c. Norwegian drau, modern drov, drauv), alternatively *drog, from Old Norse draugr (“malevolent revenant”); along the variation trow, intermixed with Norn troll, from Old Norse trǫll (“troll, malevolent supernatural being”), a partial synonym to draugr. L-vocalisation occurred in the early 15th century in Middle Scots, so trolly, knolls probably became *trowie, knowes around this time.

Synonyms

dark elf

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 "drow"?
"drow" is spelled D-R-O-W. The IPA pronunciation is /dɹəʊ/.
What does "drow" mean?
As a noun, "drow" means: A member of a race of folkloric beings from Orkney and Shetland; cognate to the Scandinavian troll.
How do you pronounce "drow"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "drow" is /dɹəʊ/. 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 "drow"?
From Shetlandic and Orcadian Scots drow, from Norn *drou, *drau (compare 18th c. Norwegian drau, modern drov, drauv), alternatively *drog, from Old Norse draugr (“malevolent revenant”); along the variation trow, intermixed with Norn troll, from Ol... 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 "drow", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Doig#74,039Edda#74,052dict#74,029Emer#74,063

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list