sambuca
/samˈbʊkə/
"sambuca" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sambuca” is uncommon English (frequency #90,932 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #90,932
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An Italian liqueur made from elderberries and flavoured with licorice, traditionally served with 3 coffee beans that represent health, wealth and fortune (or past, present and future).
Corpus desk
Index EN-sambuca · sambuca · English
sambuca · rank #90,932 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #90,932
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH sanga
Nearest frequency peer: sanga (+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 “sambuca”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- sadden
sadden
9,077 corpus weight
- Saguenay
Saguenay
9,075 corpus weight
- saker
saker
9,074 corpus weight
- sambuca
sambuca
9,069 corpus weight
- sanga
sanga
9,068 corpus weight
- sarma
sarma
9,066 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “sambuca” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | sambuca |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /samˈbʊkə/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #90,932 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “sambuca” in English
Rare enough to double-check
sambuca is uncommon English at frequency #90,932 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /samˈbʊkə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "An Italian liqueur made from elderberries and flavoured with licorice, traditionally served with 3 coffee beans that represent health, wealth and fortune (or past, present and future).".
sambuca doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: ] Borrowed from Italian sambuca, from Latin sambūcus (“elder tree”), due to a similar 19th century liquor flavored with elderflower. Modern sambuca, which doesn't necessarily have elderberry, started being marketed in 1971. The correct English form is sambuca, spelled S-A-M-B-U-C-A.
Definition
- 1An Italian liqueur made from elderberries and flavoured with licorice, traditionally served with 3 coffee beans that represent health, wealth and fortune (or past, present and future).
Etymology
] Borrowed from Italian sambuca, from Latin sambūcus (“elder tree”), due to a similar 19th century liquor flavored with elderflower. Modern sambuca, which doesn't necessarily have elderberry, started being marketed in 1971.
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
How do you spell "sambuca"?
What does "sambuca" mean?
How do you pronounce "sambuca"?
What is the origin of the word "sambuca"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "sambuca", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).