makai

adv

"makai" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“makai” is uncommon English (frequency #95,105 among 36,575 “M” headwords), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#95,105
frequency rank, English
36,575
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - seaward, towards the sea.

Key facts for makai
PropertyValue
Headwordmakai
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdverb
Letters5
Frequency rank#95,105
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “makai” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). makai lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

makai is uncommon English at frequency #95,105 among 36,575 “M” headwords, classed as anadverb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "seaward, towards the sea.".

makai doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Hawaiian makai (“seaward”). The correct English form is makai, spelled M-A-K-A-I.

Definition

  1. 1
    seaward, towards the sea.

Etymology

Borrowed from Hawaiian makai (“seaward”).

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

How do you spell "makai"?
"makai" is spelled M-A-K-A-I.
What does "makai" mean?
As an adverb, "makai" means: seaward, towards the sea.
What is the origin of the word "makai"?
Borrowed from Hawaiian makai (“seaward”). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “makai”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is M-A-K-A-I - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • 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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list