samphire
/ˈsæm.faɪ.ə(ɹ)/
"samphire" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“samphire” is uncommon English (frequency #92,033 among 54,294 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #92,033
- frequency rank, English
- 54,294
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - One of several salt-tolerant plants, some edible
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | samphire |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsæm.faɪ.ə(ɹ)/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #92,033 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “samphire” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
samphire is uncommon English at frequency #92,033 among 54,294 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈsæm.faɪ.ə(ɹ)/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 7 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for samphire in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Originally sampiere, from French Saint Pierre (Saint Peter), the patron saint of fishermen who often harvested the plant. The correct English form is samphire, spelled S-A-M-P-H-I-R-E.
Definition
- 1One of several salt-tolerant plants, some edible
- 2One of several salt-tolerant plants, some edible
- 3One of several salt-tolerant plants, some edible
- 4One of several salt-tolerant plants, some edible
- 5One of several salt-tolerant plants, some edible
- 6One of several salt-tolerant plants, some edible
- 7One of several salt-tolerant plants, some edible
Etymology
Originally sampiere, from French Saint Pierre (Saint Peter), the patron saint of fishermen who often harvested the plant.
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 “samphire”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-A-M-P-H-I-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsæm.faɪ.ə(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.