jalapeño
/ˌhæl.əˈpeɪn.jəʊ/
"jalapeno" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“jalapeño” is uncommon English (frequency #50,608 among 4,872 “J” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #50,608
- frequency rank, English
- 4,872
- “J” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A cultivar of hot chili pepper, Capsicum annuum.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | jalapeño |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌhæl.əˈpeɪn.jəʊ/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #50,608 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “jalapeño” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
jalapeño is uncommon English at frequency #50,608 among 4,872 “J” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌhæl.əˈpeɪn.jəʊ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A cultivar of hot chili pepper, Capsicum annuum.".
jalapeño doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: Unadapted borrowing from Mexican Spanish jalapeño. The correct English form is jalapeño, spelled J-A-L-A-P-E-Ñ-O.
Definition
- 1A cultivar of hot chili pepper, Capsicum annuum.
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from Mexican Spanish jalapeño.
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 “jalapeño”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is J-A-L-A-P-E-Ñ-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌhæl.əˈpeɪn.jəʊ/ (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.