serval
/ˈsɜːvəl/
"serval" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“serval” is an uncommon English word, ranked #90,968 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #90,968
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A medium-sized African wild cat, Leptailurus serval, formerly Felis serval.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | serval |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsɜːvəl/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #90,968 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “serval” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for serval is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsɜːvəl/. Corpus data places it at rank #90,968 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A medium-sized African wild cat, Leptailurus serval, formerly Felis serval.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for serval in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French serval, from Portuguese (lobo) cerval (“Iberian lynx”), from Latin lupus cervārius (literally “stag wolf”), i.e. "wolf that hunts stags", from cervus (“deer, stag”). The correct English form is serval, spelled S-E-R-V-A-L.
Definition
- 1A medium-sized African wild cat, Leptailurus serval, formerly Felis serval.
Etymology
From French serval, from Portuguese (lobo) cerval (“Iberian lynx”), from Latin lupus cervārius (literally “stag wolf”), i.e. "wolf that hunts stags", from cervus (“deer, stag”).
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 “serval”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-E-R-V-A-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsɜːvəl/ (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
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.