samurai
/ˈsæm(j)ʊɹaɪ/
"samurai" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“samurai” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #12,134 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #12,134
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - In feudal Japan, a soldier who served a daimyo.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | samurai |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsæm(j)ʊɹaɪ/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #12,134 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “samurai” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for samurai is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsæm(j)ʊɹaɪ/. Corpus data places it at rank #12,134 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "In feudal Japan, a soldier who served a daimyo.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for samurai, with forms such as "asmurai", "sammurai", and "samruai". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "sakura", "samara", "Sakurai", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Japanese 侍 (samurai). The correct English form is samurai, spelled S-A-M-U-R-A-I.
Definition
- 1In feudal Japan, a soldier who served a daimyo.
Etymology
Borrowed from Japanese 侍 (samurai).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: asmurai,sammurai,samruai,samuari,samuria,samurrai,saumrai,smaurai,ssamurai
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of samurai - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 “samurai”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-A-M-U-R-A-I - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsæm(j)ʊɹaɪ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “sakura” - see the side-by-side comparison. samurai vs sakura
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.