fufu
/ˈfuːˌfuː/
"fufu" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“fufu” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 4
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A dish of boiled, mashed cassava mixed with plantain, yams, or other starchy vegetables, common as food in West and Equatorial Africa and the Caribbean, and sometimes sold in dry powdered or granul...
Corpus desk
Index EN-fufu · fufu · English
fufu · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "F" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | fufu |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈfuːˌfuː/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “fufu” in English
Rare enough to double-check
fufu is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈfuːˌfuː/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A dish of boiled, mashed cassava mixed with plantain, yams, or other starchy vegetables, common as food in West and Equatorial Africa and the Caribbean, and sometimes sold in dry powdered or granul...".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for fufu, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From West African languages, such as Lingala fufú (“white-white”). The correct English form is fufu, spelled F-U-F-U.
Definition
- 1A dish of boiled, mashed cassava mixed with plantain, yams, or other starchy vegetables, common as food in West and Equatorial Africa and the Caribbean, and sometimes sold in dry powdered or granulated form.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how fufu appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Africans generally serve highly seasoned stews with a starch - corn, millet, yams, cassava or rice - which they mash and whip to a paste, called fufu in West Africa. This is topped with a sauce known as palava.
“I want some real food,” Binta angrily said. “Like fufu and egusi soup.”
Etymology
From West African languages, such as Lingala fufú (“white-white”).
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.