gingham
/ˈɡɪŋ.əm/
"gingham" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“gingham” is uncommon English (frequency #61,494 among 18,276 “G” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #61,494
- frequency rank, English
- 18,276
- “G” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A cotton fabric made from dyed and white yarn woven in checks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | gingham |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɡɪŋ.əm/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #61,494 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “gingham” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
gingham is uncommon English at frequency #61,494 among 18,276 “G” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈɡɪŋ.əm/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for gingham in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Malay genggang (“ajar; apart”), or a corruption of French Guingamp, the name of a town in Brittany, France, where this cloth may have been made. The correct English form is gingham, spelled G-I-N-G-H-A-M.
Definition
- 1A cotton fabric made from dyed and white yarn woven in checks.
- 2A dress made from that material.
- 3An umbrella.
Etymology
From Malay genggang (“ajar; apart”), or a corruption of French Guingamp, the name of a town in Brittany, France, where this cloth may have been made.
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 “gingham”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is G-I-N-G-H-A-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɡɪŋ.əm/ (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.