Rastafari
"rastafari" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Rastafari” is uncommon English (frequency #82,708 among 21,470 “R” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #82,708
- frequency rank, English
- 21,470
- “R” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Rastafarianism.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Rastafari |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #82,708 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Rastafari” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
Rastafari is uncommon English at frequency #82,708 among 21,470 “R” headwords, classed as aproper noun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Rastafarianism.".
Rastafari doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Semitic *raʔš- Amharic ራስ (ras) Amharic ተፈሪ (täfäri) English Rastafari From Amharic ራስ (ras, “Duke”, literally “head”) and ተፈሪ (täfäri, “revered”) from ተፈሪ መኮንን (täfäri mäkonn, “Haile Selassie”, literally “feared (son of) Makonnen”). Mo… The correct English form is Rastafari, spelled R-A-S-T-A-F-A-R-I.
Definition
- 1Rastafarianism.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Semitic *raʔš- Amharic ራስ (ras) Amharic ተፈሪ (täfäri) English Rastafari From Amharic ራስ (ras, “Duke”, literally “head”) and ተፈሪ (täfäri, “revered”) from ተፈሪ መኮንን (täfäri mäkonn, “Haile Selassie”, literally “feared (son of) Makonnen”). More at Haile Selassie.
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 "Rastafari"?
What does "Rastafari" mean?
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Using “Rastafari”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is R-A-S-T-A-F-A-R-I - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- 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.