marsh mallow

noun

"marsh-mallow" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“marsh mallow” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
12
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A European species of plant in the mallow family, Althaea officinalis, historically used medicinally and the source of what became the modern marshmallow confection (which no longer contains the pl...

Key facts for marsh mallow
PropertyValue
Headwordmarsh mallow
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters12
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “marsh mallow” sits in English frequency

marsh mallow falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

marsh mallow is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for marsh mallow in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From marsh + mallow. The correct English form is marsh mallow, spelled M-A-R-S-H- -M-A-L-L-O-W.

Definition

  1. 1
    A European species of plant in the mallow family, Althaea officinalis, historically used medicinally and the source of what became the modern marshmallow confection (which no longer contains the plant).
  2. 2
    Hibiscus moscheutos (crimsoneyed rosemallow, swamp rosemallow. eastern rosemallow)
  3. 3
    Malva sylvestris (common mallow)

Etymology

From marsh + mallow.

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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "marsh mallow"?
"marsh mallow" is spelled M-A-R-S-H- -M-A-L-L-O-W.
What does "marsh mallow" mean?
As a noun, "marsh mallow" means: A European species of plant in the mallow family, Althaea officinalis, historically used medicinally and the source of what became the modern marshmallow confection (which no longer contains the pl...
What is the origin of the word "marsh mallow"?
From marsh + mallow. 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 “marsh mallow”

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

  • The one correct English spelling is M-A-R-S-H- -M-A-L-L-O-W - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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