fennec
/ˈfɛnɪk/
"fennec" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“fennec” is uncommon English (frequency #91,495 among 2,507 “F” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #91,495
- frequency rank, English
- 2,507
- “F” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A small fox of the species Vulpes zerda, found in the Sahara (excluding the coast) and having distinctive oversized ears.
Corpus desk
Index EN-fennec · fennec · English
fennec · rank #91,495 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #91,495
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,507
- PHOTO-FINISH feh
Nearest frequency peer: feh (-2 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 “fennec”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- farro
farro
8,511 corpus weight
- feh
feh
8,508 corpus weight
- fennec
fennec
8,506 corpus weight
- fibrotic
fibrotic
8,502 corpus weight
- fiendishly
fiendishly
8,501 corpus weight
- Filson
Filson
8,500 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “fennec” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | fennec |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈfɛnɪk/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #91,495 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “fennec” in English
Rare enough to double-check
fennec is uncommon English at frequency #91,495 among 2,507 “F” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈfɛnɪk/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A small fox of the species Vulpes zerda, found in the Sahara (excluding the coast) and having distinctive oversized ears.".
fennec has no tracked misspelling variants, 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: Etymology tree Proto-Mongolic *hüne- Proto-Mongolic *-gan Proto-Mongolic *hünegender. Persian فنکbor. Arabic فَنَك (fanak)der. French fennecbor. English fennec Borrowed from French fennec, from Arabic فَنَك (fanak). The correct English form is fennec, spelled F-E-N-N-E-C.
Definition
- 1A small fox of the species Vulpes zerda, found in the Sahara (excluding the coast) and having distinctive oversized ears.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Mongolic *hüne- Proto-Mongolic *-gan Proto-Mongolic *hünegender. Persian فنکbor. Arabic فَنَك (fanak)der. French fennecbor. English fennec Borrowed from French fennec, from Arabic فَنَك (fanak).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
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 "fennec"?
What does "fennec" mean?
How do you pronounce "fennec"?
What is the origin of the word "fennec"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "fennec", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).