proffer
/ˈpɹɒfə(ɹ)/
"proffer" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“proffer” is uncommon English (frequency #66,954 among 46,516 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #66,954
- frequency rank, English
- 46,516
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An offer made; something proposed for acceptance by another; a tender.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | proffer |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpɹɒfə(ɹ)/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #66,954 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “proffer” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
proffer is uncommon English at frequency #66,954 among 46,516 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈpɹɒfə(ɹ)/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for proffer, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: The noun is derived from Middle English profre (“act of offering or presenting a gift; offer of something; challenge; sacrifice; act of petitioning or requesting; petition, request; proposal, suggestion; idea, thought; attempt, effort; appearance; (law) pay… The correct English form is proffer, spelled P-R-O-F-F-E-R.
Definition
- 1An offer made; something proposed for acceptance by another; a tender.
- 2An attempt, an essay.
Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English profre (“act of offering or presenting a gift; offer of something; challenge; sacrifice; act of petitioning or requesting; petition, request; proposal, suggestion; idea, thought; attempt, effort; appearance; (law) payment to the Exchequer by a sheriff or other officer of estimated revenue due to the monarch”) [and other forms], and then: * partly from Late Latin profrum, proferum (“payment to the Exchequer of estimated revenue due to the monarch (also puruoffrus), offer to convict a criminal”), and from its likely etymon Anglo-Norman profre, proffre, porofre (“payment to the Exchequer of estimated revenue due to the monarch; offer, proposal”), and * partly from the verb. The verb is derived from Late Middle English prouffer, prouffre, Middle English profren, profer, proffere (“to offer, propose; to deliver, hand over, present; to take up; to volunteer; to dedicate; to attempt, try; to risk; to challenge; to provide; to ask, invite; to proceed, start; to grant; to argue”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman profrer, proferer, profferer, proffrir, propherer, proufrir, and Old French proferir, proffrir, profrir (“to offer, propose; to present; to volunteer”), variants of Anglo-Norman puroffrir and Middle French poroffrir, paroffrir, Old French poroffrir, paroffrir, porofrir, from por-, pur- (prefix meaning ‘to go through’ or having an intensifying effect) + offrir, ofrir (“to offer”) (modern French offrir (“to offer; to give as a gift; to open oneself up to (someone)”)). Offrir is derived from Vulgar Latin *offerīre, from Latin offerre, present active infinitive of offerō (“to offer, present; to exhibit, show; to expose; to cause, inflict; to consecrate, dedicate; to sacrifice”) (from ob- (prefix meaning ‘against; towards’) + ferō (“to bear, carry; to support; to endure; to bring forth; to put in motion; to move forward”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to bear, carry”))).
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 “proffer”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-R-O-F-F-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈpɹɒfə(ɹ)/ (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.