giaour
/ˈd͡ʒaʊə/
"giaour" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“giaour” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A non-Muslim, especially a Christian, an infidel; especially as used by Turkish people with particular reference to Christians such as Greeks, Armenians, Bulgarians, Serbs and Assyrians.
Corpus desk
Index EN-giaour · giaour · English
giaour · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "G" 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 | giaour |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈd͡ʒaʊə/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “giaour” in English
Rare enough to double-check
giaour is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈd͡ʒaʊə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A non-Muslim, especially a Christian, an infidel; especially as used by Turkish people with particular reference to Christians such as Greeks, Armenians, Bulgarians, Serbs and Assyrians.".
giaour has no tracked misspelling variants, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French giaour, from Ottoman Turkish كاور (gâvur), from Classical Persian گَاوُر (gāwur), a variant of گَبْر (gabr, “infidel”); see there for more. Doublet of Gheber and Gueber. The correct English form is giaour, spelled G-I-A-O-U-R.
Definition
- 1A non-Muslim, especially a Christian, an infidel; especially as used by Turkish people with particular reference to Christians such as Greeks, Armenians, Bulgarians, Serbs and Assyrians.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how giaour appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
And far beyond the Moslem's power / Had wrong'd him with the faithless Giaour.
We men are not a race of freebooters or giaours; not when our argosies are prey and food to the evil fish-of-metal whose lair is a German U-boat.
Etymology
Borrowed from French giaour, from Ottoman Turkish كاور (gâvur), from Classical Persian گَاوُر (gāwur), a variant of گَبْر (gabr, “infidel”); see there for more. Doublet of Gheber and Gueber.
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.