otaku
/əʊˈtɑːkuː/
"otaku" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“otaku” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #43,818 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #43,818
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 6
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - One with an obsessive interest in something, particularly (originally derogatory) an obsessive Japanese fan of anime or manga.
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 | otaku |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /əʊˈtɑːkuː/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #43,818 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 6 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “otaku” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for otaku is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əʊˈtɑːkuː/. Corpus data places it at rank #43,818 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "One with an obsessive interest in something, particularly (originally derogatory) an obsessive Japanese fan of anime or manga.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for otaku, with forms such as "oatku", "otakku", and "otauk". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 6 confusable-pair relationships, "oak", "Ota", "oaks", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Japanese オタク (otaku, “anime obsessive, geek”) originally used in reference to the 1982 Macross fandom, from the honorific form お宅 (otaku, “you”), from the honorific form 宅 (taku, “home”) ("your home"). The correct English form is otaku, spelled O-T-A-K-U.
Definition
- 1One with an obsessive interest in something, particularly (originally derogatory) an obsessive Japanese fan of anime or manga.
Etymology
From Japanese オタク (otaku, “anime obsessive, geek”) originally used in reference to the 1982 Macross fandom, from the honorific form お宅 (otaku, “you”), from the honorific form 宅 (taku, “home”) ("your home").
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: oatku,otakku,otauk,otkau,ottaku,toaku
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of otaku - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 “otaku”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is O-T-A-K-U - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əʊˈtɑːkuː/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “oak” - see the side-by-side comparison. otaku vs oak
- 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.