offal

/ˈɒf.əl/

//ˈɒf.əl// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"offal" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“offal” is uncommon English (frequency #52,531 among 1,431 “O” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#52,531
frequency rank, English
1,431
“O” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The internal organs of an animal (entrails or innards), used as food.

Corpus desk

Index EN-offal · offal · English

offal · rank #52,531 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #52,531
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,431
  • PHOTO-FINISH O'Keeffe

Nearest frequency peer: O'Keeffe (-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 “offal”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “offal” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for offal
PropertyValue
Headwordoffal
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈɒf.əl/
Letters5
Frequency rank#52,531
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “offal” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).offalfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “O'Keeffe” (#52,530), “offsite” (#52,532), “Oldsmobile” (#52,533). Among 1,431 “O” headwords, “offal” is #52,531. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

offal is uncommon English at frequency #52,531 among 1,431 “O” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈɒf.əl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for offal in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English offal, offall, offalle (“offal, refuse, scrap waste”), equivalent to off- + fall. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Oufal (“offal”), West Frisian ôffal (“offal”), Dutch afval (“waste, refuse”), German Low German Offall (“offal”), German Abf… The correct English form is offal, spelled O-F-F-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    The internal organs of an animal (entrails or innards), used as food.
  2. 2
    A by-product of the grain milling process, which may include bran, husks, etc.
  3. 3
    A dead body; carrion.
  4. 4
    That which is thrown away as worthless or unfit for use; refuse; rubbish.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how offal appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. 1817, John Taylor, Arator; Being a Series of Agricultural Essays Practical and Political in Sixty-One Numbers, Baltimore: John M. Carter, No. 32, Indian Corn, p. 96, https://books.google.ca/books?id=paMBAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false The whole of the corn offal is better food than wheat straw, but its blades and tops are so greatly super…
  2. Our standard wheat flour contains only the endosperm and represents practically a 75 per cent. extraction. The remaining 25 per cent. is known in the trade as grain offal or mill-feed, and is used largely as a concentrated food for live stock, being prized in the feeding of dairy cattle.

Etymology

From Middle English offal, offall, offalle (“offal, refuse, scrap waste”), equivalent to off- + fall. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Oufal (“offal”), West Frisian ôffal (“offal”), Dutch afval (“waste, refuse”), German Low German Offall (“offal”), German Abfall (“waste, refuse”), Danish affald (“waste, refuse”), Swedish avfall (“waste, refuse”), Old English offeallan (“to cut off”).

This word in other languages

despojos(Español)abats(Français)Innereien(Deutsch)miúdos(Português)

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 "offal"?
"offal" is spelled O-F-F-A-L. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈɒf.əl/.
What does "offal" mean?
As a noun, "offal" means: The internal organs of an animal (entrails or innards), used as food.
How do you pronounce "offal"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "offal" is /ˈɒf.əl/. 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 "offal"?
From Middle English offal, offall, offalle (“offal, refuse, scrap waste”), equivalent to off- + fall. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Oufal (“offal”), West Frisian ôffal (“offal”), Dutch afval (“waste, refuse”), German Low German Offall (“offal”), ... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
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Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "offal", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

niqab#52,522nigra#52,521pardo#52,545Pyrex#52,577

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list