kombucha
/ˌkɑmˈbu.t͡ʃə/
"kombucha" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“kombucha” is uncommon English (frequency #56,230 among 9,255 “K” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #56,230
- frequency rank, English
- 9,255
- “K” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A fermented, effervescent, and sweetened black tea of Mongolian origin.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | kombucha |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌkɑmˈbu.t͡ʃə/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #56,230 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “kombucha” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
kombucha is uncommon English at frequency #56,230 among 9,255 “K” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌkɑmˈbu.t͡ʃə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A fermented, effervescent, and sweetened black tea of Mongolian origin.".
Zero misspellings are on record for kombucha in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. 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: Origin disputed. Possibly from Japanese 昆布茶 (konbucha, literally “kelp (konbu) tea”), a different type of beverage, and not related to fermentation. Alternatively, derived from Kombu, reportedly a Korean physician who brought the fermented tea to Japan as a… The correct English form is kombucha, spelled K-O-M-B-U-C-H-A.
Definition
- 1A fermented, effervescent, and sweetened black tea of Mongolian origin.
Etymology
Origin disputed. Possibly from Japanese 昆布茶 (konbucha, literally “kelp (konbu) tea”), a different type of beverage, and not related to fermentation. Alternatively, derived from Kombu, reportedly a Korean physician who brought the fermented tea to Japan as a curative for Emperor Inkyo in 414 CE + cha (“tea”).
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 “kombucha”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is K-O-M-B-U-C-H-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌkɑmˈbu.t͡ʃə/ (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.