sefer
/ˈsɛfɛɹ/
"sefer" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sefer” is uncommon English (frequency #83,730 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #83,730
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A book, especially a religious book.
Corpus desk
Index EN-sefer · sefer · English
sefer · rank #83,730 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #83,730
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH seductress
Nearest frequency peer: seductress (-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 “sefer”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- screamo
screamo
16,276 corpus weight
- seamer
seamer
16,274 corpus weight
- seductress
seductress
16,272 corpus weight
- sefer
sefer
16,271 corpus weight
- Sehgal
Sehgal
16,270 corpus weight
- senhor
senhor
16,266 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “sefer” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | sefer |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsɛfɛɹ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #83,730 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “sefer” in English
Rare enough to double-check
sefer is uncommon English at frequency #83,730 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈsɛfɛɹ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A book, especially a religious book.".
sefer doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Hebrew סֵפֶר. The correct English form is sefer, spelled S-E-F-E-R.
Definition
- 1A book, especially a religious book.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how sefer appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Umm, can you tell me the name of the sefer of Rav Nachman's where he wrote this, and where I can get it ? And how the quote originally goes in Hebrew or Yiddish or Russian or whatever language he wrote in ?
and I'm not referring to Rabbi Sally or Rabbi Suzy from the non-O clergy, or for that matter Rabbi Murray or Rabbi Irving from the O clergy, or even from some naarishkeit written from Aish haTorah or Artscroll; but to a recognized Posek who has authored "sefarim"
Etymology
Borrowed from Hebrew סֵפֶר.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "sefer", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).