kitsune
/kɪtˈsuː.neɪ/
"kitsune" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“kitsune” is uncommon English (frequency #65,240 among 9,255 “K” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #65,240
- frequency rank, English
- 9,255
- “K” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A Japanese fox spirit, often but not exclusively female, said to have powers such as shape-shifting, and whose power is symbolized by increase in number of tails.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | kitsune |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kɪtˈsuː.neɪ/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #65,240 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “kitsune” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
kitsune is uncommon English at frequency #65,240 among 9,255 “K” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /kɪtˈsuː.neɪ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A Japanese fox spirit, often but not exclusively female, said to have powers such as shape-shifting, and whose power is symbolized by increase in number of tails.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for kitsune in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Japanese 狐 (kitsune, “fox”). The correct English form is kitsune, spelled K-I-T-S-U-N-E.
Definition
- 1A Japanese fox spirit, often but not exclusively female, said to have powers such as shape-shifting, and whose power is symbolized by increase in number of tails.
Etymology
From Japanese 狐 (kitsune, “fox”).
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 “kitsune”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is K-I-T-S-U-N-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kɪtˈsuː.neɪ/ (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.