North Korea

/noɹθ ˌkəˈɹi.ə/

//noɹθ ˌkəˈɹi.ə// name

"north-korea" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency English
11
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A country in East Asia, whose territory consists of the northern part of Korea. Official name: Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Capital: Pyongyang.

Key facts for North Korea
PropertyValue
HeadwordNorth Korea
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechProper noun
IPA/noɹθ ˌkəˈɹi.ə/
Letters11
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “North Korea” sits in English frequency

North Korea 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

North Korea is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aproper noun, transcribed /noɹθ ˌkəˈɹi.ə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A country in East Asia, whose territory consists of the northern part of Korea. Official name: Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Capital: Pyongyang.".

No misspelling variants are generated for North Korea in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From north + Korea, due to its northerly position on the Korean peninsula. The correct English form is North Korea, spelled N-O-R-T-H- -K-O-R-E-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    A country in East Asia, whose territory consists of the northern part of Korea. Official name: Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Capital: Pyongyang.

Etymology

From north + Korea, due to its northerly position on the Korean peninsula.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "North Korea"?
"North Korea" is spelled N-O-R-T-H- -K-O-R-E-A. The IPA pronunciation is /noɹθ ˌkəˈɹi.ə/.
What does "North Korea" mean?
As a proper noun, "North Korea" means: A country in East Asia, whose territory consists of the northern part of Korea. Official name: Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Capital: Pyongyang.
How do you pronounce "North Korea"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "North Korea" is /noɹθ ˌkəˈɹi.ə/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "North Korea"?
From north + Korea, due to its northerly position on the Korean peninsula. 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 “North Korea”

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

  • The one correct English spelling is N-O-R-T-H- -K-O-R-E-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /noɹθ ˌkəˈɹi.ə/ (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
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