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fufu

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

4 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "fufu", 4-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "fufu" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "fufu" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

fufu is aEnglishnoun. It means: 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... Pronounced /ˈfuːˌfuː/.

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Key facts for fufu
PropertyValue
Headwordfufu
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈfuːˌfuː/
Letters4
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

fufu is not present in the top-100,000 ranked English corpus, typical for technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary.

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for fufu is 4 letters long, classified as anoun, 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...".

No frequent misspelling variants are recorded for fufu in our index, suggesting the orthography either follows predictable English patterns or the word is uncommon enough that typo corpora lack signal.It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From West African languages, such as Lingala fufú (“white-white”). Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is fufu, spelled F-U-F-U, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    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 granulated form.

Etymology

From West African languages, such as Lingala fufú (“white-white”).

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "fufu"?
"fufu" is spelled F-U-F-U. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈfuːˌfuː/.
What does "fufu" mean?
As a noun, "fufu" means: 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...
How do you pronounce "fufu"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "fufu" is /ˈfuːˌfuː/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "fufu"?
From West African languages, such as Lingala fufú (“white-white”). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.