koan
/ˈkəʊ.ɑːn/
"koan" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“koan” is an uncommon English word, ranked #88,512 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #88,512
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A story about a Zen master and his student, sometimes like a riddle, other times like a fable or parable, which has become an object of Zen study, and which, when meditated upon, may unlock mechani...
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | koan |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkəʊ.ɑːn/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #88,512 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “koan” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for koan is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈkəʊ.ɑːn/. Corpus data places it at rank #88,512 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for koan, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Japanese 公案 (kōan), derived from Chinese 公案 (gōng'àn, “official business”). The correct English form is koan, spelled K-O-A-N.
Definition
- 1A story about a Zen master and his student, sometimes like a riddle, other times like a fable or parable, which has become an object of Zen study, and which, when meditated upon, may unlock mechanisms in the Zen student’s mind leading to satori.
- 2A riddle with no solution, used to provoke reflection on the inadequacy of logical reasoning, and to lead to enlightenment.
- 3A therapy technique used by Traditional Chinese medicinal physicians or medical practitioners to break a presenting patients habitual pattern of thinking that has been diagnosed as the primary cause of an illness or disease.
Etymology
From Japanese 公案 (kōan), derived from Chinese 公案 (gōng'àn, “official business”).
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 “koan”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is K-O-A-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈkəʊ.ɑːn/ (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
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.