lychee
/ˈlaɪ̯t͡ʃi/
"lychee" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“lychee” is uncommon English (frequency #70,850 among 16,425 “L” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #70,850
- frequency rank, English
- 16,425
- “L” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The Chinese tropical fruit tree Litchi chinensis, of the soapberry family.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | lychee |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈlaɪ̯t͡ʃi/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #70,850 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “lychee” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
lychee is uncommon English at frequency #70,850 among 16,425 “L” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈlaɪ̯t͡ʃi/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
lychee has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: * /ˈlaɪ̯.t͡ʃi/, /laɪ̯ˈt͡ʃiː/ from Cantonese 荔枝 (lai⁶ zi¹) * /ˈlit͡ʃi/ from Hokkien 荔枝 (lē-chi) Doublet of litchi and lichi. The correct English form is lychee, spelled L-Y-C-H-E-E.
Definition
- 1The Chinese tropical fruit tree Litchi chinensis, of the soapberry family.
- 2That tree's bright red oval fruit with a single stone surrounded by a fleshy white aril.
- 3A soft pink-red colour, like that of a lychee rind (also called lychee red).
Etymology
* /ˈlaɪ̯.t͡ʃi/, /laɪ̯ˈt͡ʃiː/ from Cantonese 荔枝 (lai⁶ zi¹) * /ˈlit͡ʃi/ from Hokkien 荔枝 (lē-chi) Doublet of litchi and lichi.
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 “lychee”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is L-Y-C-H-E-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈlaɪ̯t͡ʃi/ (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.