mahalo
/ˈmɑˌhɑloʊ/
"mahalo" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“mahalo” is uncommon English (frequency #67,616 among 36,575 “M” headwords), classed as an interjection. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #67,616
- frequency rank, English
- 36,575
- “M” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - thank you
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | mahalo |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Interjection |
| IPA | /ˈmɑˌhɑloʊ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #67,616 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “mahalo” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
mahalo is uncommon English at frequency #67,616 among 36,575 “M” headwords, classed as aninterjection, transcribed /ˈmɑˌhɑloʊ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "thank you".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for mahalo, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Hawaiian mahalo, from Proto-Eastern Polynesian *masalo. The correct English form is mahalo, spelled M-A-H-A-L-O.
Definition
- 1thank you
Etymology
From Hawaiian mahalo, from Proto-Eastern Polynesian *masalo.
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 “mahalo”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-A-H-A-L-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈmɑˌhɑloʊ/ (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.