# Esther

> English word · Proper noun · IPA /ˈɛstə/ · frequency rank #12,593

## Definitions
1. A female given name from Persian.
2. A book of the Old Testament and the Hebrew Tanakh.
3. The heroine of the Book of Esther.

## Etymology
From Ancient Greek Ἐσθήρ (Esthḗr), from Biblical Hebrew אֶסְתֵּר (ʾestēr). Has been connected to Old Persian 𐎠𐎿𐎫𐎼 (a-s-t-r /⁠star-⁠/, “star”) (whence Middle Persian 𐭮𐭲𐭫 (stl /⁠star⁠/, “star”), 𐭮𐭲𐭠𐭫𐭪 (stʾlk /⁠stārag⁠/, “star”), Persian ستاره (sitāra /setâre, “star”)), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂stḗr (if so, a distant doublet of star); or else to Akkadian 𒀭𒈹 (Ištar, “Ishtar”) (Hebrew עִשְׁתָּר (ʿištār)).

## Easily confused with
- **ether** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/esther-vs-ether)
- **Ethel** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/esther-vs-ethel)
- **enter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/enter-vs-esther)
- **eater** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/eater-vs-esther)
- **ester** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ester-vs-esther)
- **Estes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/estes-vs-esther)
- **either** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/either-vs-esther)
- **Easter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/easter-vs-esther)
- **esteem** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/esteem-vs-esther)
- **eschew** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/eschew-vs-esther)

## Common misspellings (9)
`eshter`, `essther`, `estehr`, `estherr`, `esthher`, `esthre`, `estther`, `etsher`, `sether`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/esther