proffer
/ˈpɹɒfə(ɹ)/
"proffer" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“proffer” is uncommon English (frequency #66,954 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #66,954
- frequency rank, English
- 4,417
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An offer made; something proposed for acceptance by another; a tender.
Corpus desk
Index EN-proffer · proffer · English
proffer · rank #66,954 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #66,954
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,417
- PHOTO-FINISH preselection
Nearest frequency peer: preselection (-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 “proffer”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- prepper
prepper
33,049 corpus weight
- preselection
preselection
33,048 corpus weight
- proffer
proffer
33,047 corpus weight
- prospective…
prospectively
33,045 corpus weight
- provolone
provolone
33,043 corpus weight
- prow
prow
33,042 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “proffer” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| 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) |
Long-tail rank of “proffer” in English
Rare enough to double-check
proffer is uncommon English at frequency #66,954 among 4,417 “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.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how proffer appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
[T]heir ovvn eies vvilbe perhaps more curious iudges, out of heareſay they may have builded many conceites, vvhich I can not perchaunce vvil not performe, then vvil vndeſerued repentance be a greater ſhame and iniurie vnto me, then their vndeſerued proffer, is honour.
Her lips, man, her lips! and that's a proffer I would not make to every one who crosses my threshold. But, by good St Valentine, (whose holiday will dawn to-morrow,) I am so glad to see thee in the bonny city of Perth again, that it would be hard to tell the thing I could refuse thee.
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.
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "proffer", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).