jambalaya
/ˌd͡ʒæmbəˈlaɪə/
"jambalaya" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“jambalaya” is uncommon English (frequency #69,149 among 4,872 “J” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #69,149
- frequency rank, English
- 4,872
- “J” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any of various of rice-based dishes common in Louisiana Cajun or Creole cooking; most often with shrimp, oysters, chicken or ham.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | jambalaya |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌd͡ʒæmbəˈlaɪə/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #69,149 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “jambalaya” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
jambalaya is uncommon English at frequency #69,149 among 4,872 “J” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌd͡ʒæmbəˈlaɪə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Any of various of rice-based dishes common in Louisiana Cajun or Creole cooking; most often with shrimp, oysters, chicken or ham.".
No misspelling variants are generated for jambalaya in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. 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 Louisiana Creole jambalaya The correct English form is jambalaya, spelled J-A-M-B-A-L-A-Y-A.
Definition
- 1Any of various of rice-based dishes common in Louisiana Cajun or Creole cooking; most often with shrimp, oysters, chicken or ham.
Etymology
From Louisiana Creole jambalaya
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 “jambalaya”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is J-A-M-B-A-L-A-Y-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌd͡ʒæmbəˈlaɪə/ (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.