guffaw
/ɡəˈfɔː/
"guffaw" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“guffaw” is an uncommon English word, ranked #93,764 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #93,764
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A boisterous laugh.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | guffaw |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɡəˈfɔː/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #93,764 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “guffaw” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for guffaw is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɡəˈfɔː/. Corpus data places it at rank #93,764 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A boisterous laugh.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for guffaw, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: Early 18th century, originally Scots, probably onomatopoeic. The correct English form is guffaw, spelled G-U-F-F-A-W.
Definition
- 1A boisterous laugh.
Etymology
Early 18th century, originally Scots, probably onomatopoeic.
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
How do you spell "guffaw"?
What does "guffaw" mean?
How do you pronounce "guffaw"?
What is the origin of the word "guffaw"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “guffaw”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is G-U-F-F-A-W - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ɡəˈfɔː/ (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
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.