keng
[ˈkeŋ˦]
"keng" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“keng” is uncommon English (frequency #76,032 among 9,255 “K” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #76,032
- frequency rank, English
- 9,255
- “K” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Synonym of chao keng (“to malinger, to shirk military duties by reporting sick”).
Corpus desk
Index EN-keng · keng · English
keng · rank #76,032 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #76,032
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 9,255
- PHOTO-FINISH Kelantan
Nearest frequency peer: Kelantan (-1 rank slots)
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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “keng”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- Kedah
Kedah
23,971 corpus weight
- Kelantan
Kelantan
23,970 corpus weight
- keng
keng
23,969 corpus weight
- Keough
Keough
23,968 corpus weight
- kesh
kesh
23,967 corpus weight
- Khoo
Khoo
23,965 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “keng” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | keng |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | [ˈkeŋ˦] |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #76,032 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “keng” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
keng is uncommon English at frequency #76,032 among 9,255 “K” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed [ˈkeŋ˦]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Synonym of chao keng (“to malinger, to shirk military duties by reporting sick”).".
Zero misspellings are on record for keng in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Clipping of chao keng, from Teochew 臭 (cao³, “dirty, ill-reputed”) + 經 /经 (gêng¹, “to evade; to pass the buck”). The correct English form is keng, spelled K-E-N-G.
Definition
- 1Synonym of chao keng (“to malinger, to shirk military duties by reporting sick”).
Etymology
Clipping of chao keng, from Teochew 臭 (cao³, “dirty, ill-reputed”) + 經 /经 (gêng¹, “to evade; to pass the buck”).
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "keng", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency 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.