Moluccas
/məˈlʌkəz/
"moluccas" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Moluccas” is uncommon English (frequency #99,583 among 36,575 “M” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #99,583
- frequency rank, English
- 36,575
- “M” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An archipelago of Indonesia.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Moluccas |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /məˈlʌkəz/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #99,583 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Moluccas” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
Moluccas is uncommon English at frequency #99,583 among 36,575 “M” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed /məˈlʌkəz/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "An archipelago of Indonesia.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for Moluccas in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Maluku, thought to have been derived from the term used by Arab traders for the region, Arabic جَزِيرَات المَلِك (jazīrāt al-malik, literally “king islands”), from the word مَلِك (malik). However, since the name itself has been mentioned in a 14th-cent… The correct English form is Moluccas, spelled M-O-L-U-C-C-A-S.
Definition
- 1An archipelago of Indonesia.
Etymology
From Maluku, thought to have been derived from the term used by Arab traders for the region, Arabic جَزِيرَات المَلِك (jazīrāt al-malik, literally “king islands”), from the word مَلِك (malik). However, since the name itself has been mentioned in a 14th-century Majapahit eulogy, Nagarakretagama, that predates the arrival of Islam in Maluku at the late fifteenth century, other sources claim that the name comes from a local language with the meaning "the head of a bull" or "the head of something large".
Synonyms
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 “Moluccas”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-O-L-U-C-C-A-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /məˈlʌkəz/ (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.