gherkin
/ˈɡɝkɪn/
"gherkin" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“gherkin” is uncommon English (frequency #83,282 among 18,276 “G” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #83,282
- frequency rank, English
- 18,276
- “G” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A small cucumber, often pickled whole.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | gherkin |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɡɝkɪn/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #83,282 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “gherkin” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
gherkin is uncommon English at frequency #83,282 among 18,276 “G” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈɡɝkɪn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for gherkin in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From a form of Dutch gurk, an archaic variant of augurk (“small pickled cucumber”), from Low German, from Middle Low German agurke, augurke, probably via Slavic (compare Polish ogórek), from Byzantine Greek ἀγγούριον (angoúrion, “cucumber”). The underlying … The correct English form is gherkin, spelled G-H-E-R-K-I-N.
Definition
- 1A small cucumber, often pickled whole.
- 2Pickled cucumber regardless of size; a pickle
- 3The penis.
Etymology
From a form of Dutch gurk, an archaic variant of augurk (“small pickled cucumber”), from Low German, from Middle Low German agurke, augurke, probably via Slavic (compare Polish ogórek), from Byzantine Greek ἀγγούριον (angoúrion, “cucumber”). The underlying Dutch form may be a diminutive (gurkijn) or perhaps more probably the plural (gurken), which was then associated with the English suffix -kin (itself incidentally from Dutch or Low German). Compare German Gurke.
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
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Using “gherkin”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is G-H-E-R-K-I-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɡɝkɪn/ (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
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.