sargasso
/sɑːˈɡæsəʊ/
"sargasso" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sargasso” is uncommon English (frequency #88,811 among 54,294 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #88,811
- frequency rank, English
- 54,294
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A brown alga, of the genus Sargassum, that forms large, floating masses.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | sargasso |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /sɑːˈɡæsəʊ/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #88,811 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “sargasso” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
sargasso is uncommon English at frequency #88,811 among 54,294 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /sɑːˈɡæsəʊ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for sargasso in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Portuguese sargaço (“(originally) the Lisbon false sun-rose or woolly rock rose (Halimium lasianthum); (now) gulfweed, sargasso”), ultimately from Latin salicastrum (“kind of wild vine found in willow-thickets”), from salix (“plant of the genus Salix; … The correct English form is sargasso, spelled S-A-R-G-A-S-S-O.
Definition
- 1A brown alga, of the genus Sargassum, that forms large, floating masses.
- 2Also Sargasso: a confused, tangled mass or situation.
- 3A part of an ocean or sea characterized by floating masses of sargassos, like the Sargasso Sea.
Etymology
From Portuguese sargaço (“(originally) the Lisbon false sun-rose or woolly rock rose (Halimium lasianthum); (now) gulfweed, sargasso”), ultimately from Latin salicastrum (“kind of wild vine found in willow-thickets”), from salix (“plant of the genus Salix; willow”) + -astrum (suffix forming nouns expressing incomplete resemblance). Salix is derived from Proto-Indo-European *sl̥H-ik- (“willow”). The English word is cognate with French sargasse, Spanish sargazo. The capitalized form of sense 2 (“a confused, tangled mass or situation”), Sargasso, is probably a reference to the Sargasso Sea.
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 “sargasso”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-A-R-G-A-S-S-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /sɑːˈɡæsəʊ/ (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.