Ojibwe
/əˈdʒɪbweɪ/
"ojibwe" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Ojibwe” is uncommon English (frequency #90,792 among 15,494 “O” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #90,792
- frequency rank, English
- 15,494
- “O” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The language spoken by the native Algonquin people of central Canada, one of a closely related group of languages and dialects of the Algonquian branch of the Algic language family.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Ojibwe |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /əˈdʒɪbweɪ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #90,792 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Ojibwe” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
Ojibwe is uncommon English at frequency #90,792 among 15,494 “O” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed /əˈdʒɪbweɪ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The language spoken by the native Algonquin people of central Canada, one of a closely related group of languages and dialects of the Algonquian branch of the Algic language family.".
Ojibwe doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: First attested in English around 1700 (and attested in early French as Outchibouec), from the Ojibwe name of an individual band of Ojibwe, of unclear origin. The most widely accepted theory connects it to Ojibwe ojibwaakide (“it shrivels, it puckers in the … The correct English form is Ojibwe, spelled O-J-I-B-W-E.
Definition
- 1The language spoken by the native Algonquin people of central Canada, one of a closely related group of languages and dialects of the Algonquian branch of the Algic language family.
Etymology
First attested in English around 1700 (and attested in early French as Outchibouec), from the Ojibwe name of an individual band of Ojibwe, of unclear origin. The most widely accepted theory connects it to Ojibwe ojibwaakide (“it shrivels, it puckers in the fire”), in reference to the puckering or tightening of moccasins at their seams or near fire. Alternatively, Helen Tanner and Edmund Danzinger connect it to the Ojibwe practice of writing on birch bark or making pictographs, respectively; compare ozhibii' (“write (someone's name) down”). Other, less credible theories: Other, less likely suggestions include: Henry Schoolcraft derived it from a word *bwe "pertaining to voice" ((compare bedowe (“have a soft voice”)), and like George Belcourt, believed it referred to a peculiarity of the tribe's (language's) pronunciation. Some other works connect it to the word for puckering the lips, which however is bajiishkidooneni (“she or he puckers the lips”), or assert that it refers to roasting captives until their flesh puckered, but this was not a common practice and is improbable as a self-designation.
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 “Ojibwe”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is O-J-I-B-W-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əˈdʒɪbweɪ/ (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.