shiitake
/ʃiːˈtɑːkeɪ/
"shiitake" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“shiitake” is uncommon English (frequency #78,119 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #78,119
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A wide, brown variety of edible mushroom, Lentinula edodes.
Corpus desk
Index EN-shiitake · shiitake · English
shiitake · rank #78,119 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #78,119
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH Shafi
Nearest frequency peer: Shafi (-2 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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “shiitake”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- sclerotic
sclerotic
21,887 corpus weight
- Secaucus
Secaucus
21,886 corpus weight
- Shafi
Shafi
21,884 corpus weight
- shiitake
shiitake
21,882 corpus weight
- shouty
shouty
21,879 corpus weight
- shroff
shroff
21,878 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “shiitake” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | shiitake |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ʃiːˈtɑːkeɪ/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #78,119 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “shiitake” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
shiitake is uncommon English at frequency #78,119 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ʃiːˈtɑːkeɪ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A wide, brown variety of edible mushroom, Lentinula edodes.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for shiitake, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Japanese 椎茸 (shītake), from 椎 (shī, “a shii or chinquapin tree”) + 茸 (take, “a mushroom”), from the way the mushrooms tend to grow on chinquapin logs. First cited in English in 1877. The correct English form is shiitake, spelled S-H-I-I-T-A-K-E.
Definition
- 1A wide, brown variety of edible mushroom, Lentinula edodes.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how shiitake appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Some fun meatless recipes include jackfruit sandwiches in place of pulled pork; black bean meatless balls or eggplant and shiitake “meatballs.”
Tea bag-style dashi kits are a better quick choice. They pack katsuobushi, kombu and often other ingredients, like dried baby sardines (niboshi) and shiitake mushrooms, into a steepable bag.
Etymology
Borrowed from Japanese 椎茸 (shītake), from 椎 (shī, “a shii or chinquapin tree”) + 茸 (take, “a mushroom”), from the way the mushrooms tend to grow on chinquapin logs. First cited in English in 1877.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "shiitake", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
What to do next
You've looked up "shiitake". Here's where to go from here.
- Usage frequency rank #78,119 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "S" letter cohort. S–Z browse
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PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.