katakana
/ˌkætəˈkænə/
"katakana" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“katakana” is uncommon English (frequency #64,470 among 9,255 “K” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #64,470
- frequency rank, English
- 9,255
- “K” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A Japanese syllabary used when writing words borrowed from foreign languages other than Chinese, specific names of plants and animals and other jargon, onomatopoeia, or to emphasize a word or phras...
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | katakana |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌkætəˈkænə/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #64,470 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “katakana” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
katakana is uncommon English at frequency #64,470 among 9,255 “K” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌkætəˈkænə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
katakana has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Japanese 片(かた)仮(か)名(な) (katakana). The correct English form is katakana, spelled K-A-T-A-K-A-N-A.
Definition
- 1A Japanese syllabary used when writing words borrowed from foreign languages other than Chinese, specific names of plants and animals and other jargon, onomatopoeia, or to emphasize a word or phrase. Also used to write the Ainu language.
- 2A character thereof.
Etymology
From Japanese 片(かた)仮(か)名(な) (katakana).
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 “katakana”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is K-A-T-A-K-A-N-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌkætəˈkænə/ (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.