goshawk
/ˈɡɒshɔːk/
"goshawk" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“goshawk” is uncommon English (frequency #84,309 among 18,276 “G” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #84,309
- frequency rank, English
- 18,276
- “G” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any of several birds of prey, principally in the genus Accipiter.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | goshawk |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɡɒshɔːk/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #84,309 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “goshawk” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
goshawk is uncommon English at frequency #84,309 among 18,276 “G” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈɡɒshɔːk/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Any of several birds of prey, principally in the genus Accipiter.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for goshawk, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English goshauk, from Old English gōshafoc (“goose hawk”), from gōs (“goose”) and hafoc (“hawk”). Compare also Old Norse gáshaukr and Late Middle English gosling. The bird gets its name from the fact that the birds of the species are hawks that … The correct English form is goshawk, spelled G-O-S-H-A-W-K.
Definition
- 1Any of several birds of prey, principally in the genus Accipiter.
Etymology
From Middle English goshauk, from Old English gōshafoc (“goose hawk”), from gōs (“goose”) and hafoc (“hawk”). Compare also Old Norse gáshaukr and Late Middle English gosling. The bird gets its name from the fact that the birds of the species are hawks that were alleged to prey on geese.
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 “goshawk”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is G-O-S-H-A-W-K - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɡɒshɔːk/ (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.