niqab
/nɪˈkɑːb/
"niqab" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“niqab” is uncommon English (frequency #52,522 among 1,534 “N” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #52,522
- frequency rank, English
- 1,534
- “N” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A veil which covers the face (except for the eyes), worn by some Muslim women as a part of sartorial hijab.
Corpus desk
Index EN-niqab · niqab · English
niqab · rank #52,522 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #52,522
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,534
- PHOTO-FINISH nigra
Nearest frequency peer: nigra (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “niqab”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- niacin
niacin
47,482 corpus weight
- Nickerson
Nickerson
47,481 corpus weight
- nigra
nigra
47,480 corpus weight
- niqab
niqab
47,479 corpus weight
- NMS
NMS
47,478 corpus weight
- noma
noma
47,477 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “niqab” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | niqab |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /nɪˈkɑːb/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #52,522 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “niqab” in English
Rare enough to double-check
niqab is uncommon English at frequency #52,522 among 1,534 “N” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /nɪˈkɑːb/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A veil which covers the face (except for the eyes), worn by some Muslim women as a part of sartorial hijab.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for niqab, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Arabic نِقَاب (niqāb). The correct English form is niqab, spelled N-I-Q-A-B.
Definition
- 1A veil which covers the face (except for the eyes), worn by some Muslim women as a part of sartorial hijab.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how niqab appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Holonym: hijab
Full face veils, known as the niqab, are banned in all French public spaces including public transport and parks, streets and administrative buildings.
Etymology
From Arabic نِقَاب (niqāb).
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "niqab", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).