karst
/kɑːst/
"karst" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“karst” is uncommon English (frequency #51,797 among 9,255 “K” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #51,797
- frequency rank, English
- 9,255
- “K” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A type of land formation, usually with many caves formed through the dissolving of limestone by underground drainage.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | karst |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kɑːst/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #51,797 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “karst” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
karst is uncommon English at frequency #51,797 among 9,255 “K” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /kɑːst/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A type of land formation, usually with many caves formed through the dissolving of limestone by underground drainage.".
karst has no tracked misspelling variants, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from German Karst. The German term and the Slovene placename Kras (the Karst Plateau) are from Proto-Slavic *korsъ, from Italo-Dalmatian carsus (cf. Italian carso), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *ker- (“hard; rock”). More at Karst. The metathes… The correct English form is karst, spelled K-A-R-S-T.
Definition
- 1A type of land formation, usually with many caves formed through the dissolving of limestone by underground drainage.
Etymology
Borrowed from German Karst. The German term and the Slovene placename Kras (the Karst Plateau) are from Proto-Slavic *korsъ, from Italo-Dalmatian carsus (cf. Italian carso), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *ker- (“hard; rock”). More at Karst. The metathesis in the Slovene term precludes German borrowing from Slovene.
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 “karst”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is K-A-R-S-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kɑːst/ (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.