faw
/fɔː/
"faw" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“faw” is uncommon English (frequency #62,135 among 2,507 “F” headwords), classed as an interjection. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #62,135
- frequency rank, English
- 2,507
- “F” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Alternative form of faugh.
Corpus desk
Index EN-faw · faw · English
faw · rank #62,135 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #62,135
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,507
- PHOTO-FINISH fanon
Nearest frequency peer: fanon (-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 “faw”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- expander
expander
37,871 corpus weight
- expansionism
expansionism
37,870 corpus weight
- fanon
fanon
37,867 corpus weight
- faw
faw
37,866 corpus weight
- Feder
Feder
37,864 corpus weight
- Fennell
Fennell
37,863 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “faw” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | faw |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Interjection |
| IPA | /fɔː/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #62,135 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “faw” in English
Rare enough to double-check
faw is uncommon English at frequency #62,135 among 2,507 “F” headwords, classed as aninterjection, transcribed /fɔː/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Alternative form of faugh.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for faw, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Onomatopoeic. The correct English form is faw, spelled F-A-W.
Definition
- 1Alternative form of faugh.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how faw appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
"It's a complicated thing, though, isn't it." "Faw!" Churchill said.
“If you'd carry a camera around your neck and walk fifty feet ahead of me, nobody would know we were together.” “Faw,” he said. “And tush.”
Etymology
Onomatopoeic.
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 "faw"?
What does "faw" mean?
How do you pronounce "faw"?
What is the origin of the word "faw"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "faw", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).