iwi
/ˈiːwi/
"iwi" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“iwi” is uncommon English (frequency #78,727 among 17,902 “I” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #78,727
- frequency rank, English
- 17,902
- “I” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An extended group of Maori kin groups or families, sharing common ancestry; a tribe. (An iwi is smaller than a waka and larger than a hapu.)
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | iwi |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈiːwi/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #78,727 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “iwi” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
iwi is uncommon English at frequency #78,727 among 17,902 “I” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈiːwi/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "An extended group of Maori kin groups or families, sharing common ancestry; a tribe. (An iwi is smaller than a waka and larger than a hapu.)".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for iwi, 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, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Māori iwi (literally “bone”), ultimately from Proto-Austronesian *duʀi (“thorn”). Doublet of durian, from Malay. The correct English form is iwi, spelled I-W-I.
Definition
- 1An extended group of Maori kin groups or families, sharing common ancestry; a tribe. (An iwi is smaller than a waka and larger than a hapu.)
Etymology
Borrowed from Māori iwi (literally “bone”), ultimately from Proto-Austronesian *duʀi (“thorn”). Doublet of durian, from Malay.
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 “iwi”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is I-W-I - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈiːwi/ (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.