dunam
/ˈdʊn.əm/
"dunam" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“dunam” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 5
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An Ottoman Turkish unit of surface area nominally equal to 1,600 square (Turkish) paces but actually varied at a provincial and local level according to land quality to accommodate its colloquial s...
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | dunam |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈdʊn.əm/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “dunam” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for dunam is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈdʊn.əm/. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
dunam doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Hebrew דּוּנָם (dúnam) or Arabic دُونُم (dūnum), from Turkish dönüm, from dönmek (“to turn”). A probable calque of Byzantine Greek στρέμμα (strémma, “stremma”, literally “that which is turned”). The correct English form is dunam, spelled D-U-N-A-M.
Definition
- 1An Ottoman Turkish unit of surface area nominally equal to 1,600 square (Turkish) paces but actually varied at a provincial and local level according to land quality to accommodate its colloquial sense of the amount of land able to be plowed in a day, roughly equivalent to the Byzantine stremma or English acre.
- 2A modern Turkish unit of surface area equal to a decare (1000 m²), equivalent to the modern Greek stremma.
- 3Various other units in other areas of the former Ottoman Empire, usually equated to the decare but sometimes varying (as in Iraq, where it is 2500 m²).
Etymology
From Hebrew דּוּנָם (dúnam) or Arabic دُونُم (dūnum), from Turkish dönüm, from dönmek (“to turn”). A probable calque of Byzantine Greek στρέμμα (strémma, “stremma”, literally “that which is turned”).
Synonyms
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “dunam”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-U-N-A-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈdʊn.əm/ (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.