gigawatt

/ˈɡɪɡəˌwɒt/

//ˈɡɪɡəˌwɒt// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"gigawatt" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“gigawatt” is uncommon English (frequency #99,310 among 2,313 “G” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#99,310
frequency rank, English
2,313
“G” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - One thousand million (10⁹) watts, an amount of power large enough to power such things as a midsize town or several small ones. (Consuming 1 gigawatt during a duration of 1 hour consumes 1 gigawatt...

Corpus desk

Index EN-gigawatt · gigawatt · English

gigawatt · rank #99,310 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #99,310
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,313
  • PHOTO-FINISH gey

Nearest frequency peer: gey (-2 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 “gigawatt”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for gigawatt
PropertyValue
Headwordgigawatt
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈɡɪɡəˌwɒt/
Letters8
Frequency rank#99,310
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “gigawatt” 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).gigawattfalls in this rarity band:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “gey” (#99,308), “gnasher” (#99,315), “gazer” (#99,304). Among 2,313 “G” headwords, “gigawatt” is #99,310. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

gigawatt is uncommon English at frequency #99,310 among 2,313 “G” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈɡɪɡəˌwɒt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for gigawatt in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Etymologically, the entry records: From giga- + watt. The correct English form is gigawatt, spelled G-I-G-A-W-A-T-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    One thousand million (10⁹) watts, an amount of power large enough to power such things as a midsize town or several small ones. (Consuming 1 gigawatt during a duration of 1 hour consumes 1 gigawatt-hour of energy.)
  2. 2
    The amount of data center capacity or amount of compute that this amount of power can provide under the current technological state of the art (PUE, clock speed, etc).

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Holonyms: TW, terawatt < PW, petawatt
  2. Meronyms: mW, milliwatt < W, watt < kW, kilowatt < MW, megawatt

Etymology

From giga- + watt.

This word in other languages

gigavatio(Español)gigawatt(Français)Gigawatt(Deutsch)

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 "gigawatt"?
"gigawatt" is spelled G-I-G-A-W-A-T-T. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈɡɪɡəˌwɒt/.
What does "gigawatt" mean?
As a noun, "gigawatt" means: One thousand million (10⁹) watts, an amount of power large enough to power such things as a midsize town or several small ones. (Consuming 1 gigawatt during a duration of 1 hour consumes 1 gigawatt...
How do you pronounce "gigawatt"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "gigawatt" is /ˈɡɪɡəˌwɒt/. 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 "gigawatt"?
From giga- + watt. 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 "gigawatt", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

garbanzo#99,300Fukunaga#99,295Friesian#99,292heatedly#99,350

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list