fufu
/ˈfuːˌfuː/
"fufu" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“fufu” 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
- 4
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 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...
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | fufu |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈfuːˌfuː/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “fufu” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for fufu is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈfuːˌfuː/. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "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.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “fufu”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-U-F-U - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈfuːˌfuː/ (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.