Gurkha
"gurkha" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Gurkha” is an uncommon English word, ranked #70,724 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #70,724
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A member of the dominant ethnic group in Nepal, with a Himalayan diaspora.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Gurkha |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #70,724 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Gurkha” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Gurkha is 6 letters long, classified as a noun. Corpus data places it at rank #70,724 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Gurkha doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Nepali गोर्खा (gorkhā, “inhabitant of Gorkha”), from गोरखा (gorakhā)/गोर्खा (gorkhā, “Gorkha District”), from Sanskrit गोरक्ष (gorakṣa, “cowherd”) an epithet of the patron deity Gorakhnath, from गो (go, “cow”) + रक्ष् (rakṣ, “protect”). The correct English form is Gurkha, spelled G-U-R-K-H-A.
Definition
- 1A member of the dominant ethnic group in Nepal, with a Himalayan diaspora.
- 2A member of this people recruited to serve in their own elite units in the British and Indian armies.
Etymology
From Nepali गोर्खा (gorkhā, “inhabitant of Gorkha”), from गोरखा (gorakhā)/गोर्खा (gorkhā, “Gorkha District”), from Sanskrit गोरक्ष (gorakṣa, “cowherd”) an epithet of the patron deity Gorakhnath, from गो (go, “cow”) + रक्ष् (rakṣ, “protect”).
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 “Gurkha”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is G-U-R-K-H-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- 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.