jigaboo
/ˈd͡ʒɪɡəbuː/
"jigaboo" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“jigaboo” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A black person.
Corpus desk
Index EN-jigaboo · jigaboo · English
jigaboo · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "J" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | jigaboo |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈd͡ʒɪɡəbuː/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “jigaboo” in English
Rare enough to double-check
jigaboo is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈd͡ʒɪɡəbuː/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for jigaboo, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: Possibly an African word akin to Bantu tshikabo (“they bow the head docilely”). Alternatively, perhaps from jig, formed similarly to bug and bugaboo. The correct English form is jigaboo, spelled J-I-G-A-B-O-O.
Definition
- 1A black person.
- 2Any dark-skinned person.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how jigaboo appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
[…] a thicklips, a jigaboo or a jungle bunny, a spook or a spearchucker. My least favourite of these names that people found for black people was the rancid and disgusting “munter”, a Bantu word which the Afrikaners used as an expletive […]
Etymology
Possibly an African word akin to Bantu tshikabo (“they bow the head docilely”). Alternatively, perhaps from jig, formed similarly to bug and bugaboo.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.