Samarkand
/ˈsæmə(ɹ)kænd/
"samarkand" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Samarkand” is uncommon English (frequency #67,010 among 54,294 “S” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #67,010
- frequency rank, English
- 54,294
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The regional capital of the Samarkand region, Uzbekistan. Official name: Samarqand.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Samarkand |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈsæmə(ɹ)kænd/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #67,010 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Samarkand” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
Samarkand is uncommon English at frequency #67,010 among 54,294 “S” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed /ˈsæmə(ɹ)kænd/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Samarkand doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Russian Самарка́нд (Samarkánd), from Persian سمرقند (samarqand), from Sogdian 𐼼𐼺𐼰𐽀𐼸𐼻𐼹𐼳 (smʾrknδh /*Smā́rkąθ/). The correct English form is Samarkand, spelled S-A-M-A-R-K-A-N-D.
Definition
- 1The regional capital of the Samarkand region, Uzbekistan. Official name: Samarqand.
- 2A region of Uzbekistan.
Etymology
From Russian Самарка́нд (Samarkánd), from Persian سمرقند (samarqand), from Sogdian 𐼼𐼺𐼰𐽀𐼸𐼻𐼹𐼳 (smʾrknδh /*Smā́rkąθ/).
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 “Samarkand”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-A-M-A-R-K-A-N-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsæmə(ɹ)kænd/ (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.