kauri
/ˈkaʊɹi/
"kauri" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“kauri” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 5
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A conifer of the genus Agathis, found in Australasia and Melanesia, especially Agathis australis.
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See how kauri compares against similar English words.
Browse all word comparisons →| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | kauri |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkaʊɹi/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “kauri” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for kauri is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈkaʊɹi/. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No misspelling variants are generated for kauri in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Māori kauri from Proto-Polynesian *kauquli, from *kau (“tree”) + *quli (“black”), originally referring to Samoan ebony ("Diospyros samoensis"). Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is kauri, spelled K-A-U-R-I, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A conifer of the genus Agathis, found in Australasia and Melanesia, especially Agathis australis.
- 2A resinous product of the kauri tree, found in the form of yellow or brown lumps in the ground where the trees have grown. It is used for making varnish, and as a substitute for amber.
Etymology
Borrowed from Māori kauri from Proto-Polynesian *kauquli, from *kau (“tree”) + *quli (“black”), originally referring to Samoan ebony ("Diospyros samoensis").
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.
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Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY-SA). Copy the citation:
PlainSpell, “kauri, English word data” (May 6, 2026). Derived from Wiktionary (kaikki.org, CC BY-SA) and an open word-frequency list. https://plainspell.com/en/word/kauri
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Using “kauri”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is K-A-U-R-I - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈkaʊɹi/ (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
Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter K in our English index: