Gansu

name

"gansu" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“Gansu” is uncommon English (frequency #71,521 among 2,313 “G” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#71,521
frequency rank, English
2,313
“G” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A province in northwestern China. Capital: Lanzhou.

Corpus desk

Index EN-gansu · Gansu · English

Gansu · rank #71,521 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #71,521
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,313
  • PHOTO-FINISH gainfully

Nearest frequency peer: gainfully (-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 “Gansu”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “Gansu” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for Gansu
PropertyValue
HeadwordGansu
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechProper noun
Letters5
Frequency rank#71,521
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “Gansu” in English

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).Gansufalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “gainfully” (#71,520), “Fuzhou” (#71,518), “gasser” (#71,524). Among 2,313 “G” headwords, “Gansu” is #71,521. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Gansu is uncommon English at frequency #71,521 among 2,313 “G” headwords, classed as aproper noun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A province in northwestern China. Capital: Lanzhou.".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for Gansu, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Etymologically, the entry records: From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 甘肅 /甘肃 (Gānsù). The correct English form is Gansu, spelled G-A-N-S-U.

Definition

  1. 1
    A province in northwestern China. Capital: Lanzhou.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how Gansu appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. This is Lanzhou, the old Silk Road outpost that has matured into a metropolis of almost 4 million as the capital of Gansu province in China’s still-poor northwest. And as your lungs can attest, it is one of the most polluted cities in the country.
  2. A towering wall of sand rushed over factories and apartment blocks in northwestern China's Gansu province as seasonal sandstorms barrelled across the country, causing air pollution and traffic accidents. Aerial images as it struck showed an apocalyptic scene as a billowing cloud of yellow dust smothered Gansu's Linze county on Sunday.

Etymology

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 甘肅 /甘肃 (Gānsù).

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 "Gansu"?
"Gansu" is spelled G-A-N-S-U.
What does "Gansu" mean?
As a proper noun, "Gansu" means: A province in northwestern China. Capital: Lanzhou.
What is the origin of the word "Gansu"?
From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 甘肅 /甘肃 (Gānsù). 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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Gansu", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list