kudo
/ˈkuː.dəʊ/
"kudo" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“kudo” is uncommon English (frequency #57,500 among 9,255 “K” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #57,500
- frequency rank, English
- 9,255
- “K” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A compliment or praise.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | kudo |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkuː.dəʊ/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #57,500 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “kudo” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
kudo is uncommon English at frequency #57,500 among 9,255 “K” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈkuː.dəʊ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A compliment or praise.".
kudo has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Back-formation from kudos, as if it were a plural with -s. The correct English form is kudo, spelled K-U-D-O.
Definition
- 1A compliment or praise.
Etymology
Back-formation from kudos, as if it were a plural with -s.
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 “kudo”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is K-U-D-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈkuː.dəʊ/ (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.