nephew
/ˈnɛf.ju/
"nephew" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“nephew” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #7,034 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #7,034
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A son of one's sibling, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law; either a son of one's brother (fraternal nephew) or a son of one's sister (sororal nephew).
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | nephew |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈnɛf.ju/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #7,034 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “nephew” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for nephew is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈnɛf.ju/. Corpus data places it at rank #7,034 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for nephew, with forms such as "enphew", "nehpew", and "nepehw". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "nether", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English nevew, neveu (“nephew, grandson”), from Old French neveu, from Latin nepos, nepōtem, from Proto-Italic *nepōts (“nephew, grandson”), whence also French neveu, Italian nipote. Displaced or absorbed the inherited English neve (“nephew, gra… The correct English form is nephew, spelled N-E-P-H-E-W.
Definition
- 1A son of one's sibling, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law; either a son of one's brother (fraternal nephew) or a son of one's sister (sororal nephew).
- 2A son of one's cousin or cousin-in-law
- 3A son of one's child.
Etymology
From Middle English nevew, neveu (“nephew, grandson”), from Old French neveu, from Latin nepos, nepōtem, from Proto-Italic *nepōts (“nephew, grandson”), whence also French neveu, Italian nipote. Displaced or absorbed the inherited English neve (“nephew, grandson, male cousin”), from Middle English neve, from Old English nefa, from Proto-West Germanic *nefō, from Proto-Germanic *nefô (“nephew, grandson”), whence Dutch neef, German Neffe. All ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *népōts (“grandchild, sister's son”). Cognate with Serbo-Croatian nećak, Irish nia, Persian نوه (nave). Spelt with -ph- by readaptation to Latin nepos since the 15th century, which later triggered the spelling pronunciation with /f/.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: enphew,nehpew,nepehw,nepheww,nephhew,nephwe,nepphew,nnephew,npehew
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of nephew - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "nephew"?
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Using “nephew”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is N-E-P-H-E-W - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈnɛf.ju/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “nether” - see the side-by-side comparison. nephew vs nether
- 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.