shuriken
/ˈʃuː.ɹɪ.kən/
"shuriken" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“shuriken” is uncommon English (frequency #84,747 among 54,294 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #84,747
- frequency rank, English
- 54,294
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A dart or throwing blade, sometimes with multiple points, used as a weapon by ninja (or samurai).
Corpus desk
Index EN-shuriken · shuriken · English
shuriken · rank #84,747 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #84,747
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 54,294
- PHOTO-FINISH sike
Nearest frequency peer: sike (+3 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 “shuriken”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- shampooing
shampooing
15,262 corpus weight
- shuriken
shuriken
15,254 corpus weight
- sike
sike
15,251 corpus weight
- silkscreen
silkscreen
15,250 corpus weight
- SJP
SJP
15,248 corpus weight
- skanky
skanky
15,247 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “shuriken” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | shuriken |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈʃuː.ɹɪ.kən/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #84,747 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “shuriken” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
shuriken is uncommon English at frequency #84,747 among 54,294 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈʃuː.ɹɪ.kən/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A dart or throwing blade, sometimes with multiple points, used as a weapon by ninja (or samurai).".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for shuriken, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Japanese 手裏剣 (しゅりけん shuriken), from Middle Chinese 手 (ʃúw "hand") + 裏 (lí "inside") + 劍 (kjæ̀m "sword"). The correct English form is shuriken, spelled S-H-U-R-I-K-E-N.
Definition
- 1A dart or throwing blade, sometimes with multiple points, used as a weapon by ninja (or samurai).
Etymology
From Japanese 手裏剣 (しゅりけん shuriken), from Middle Chinese 手 (ʃúw "hand") + 裏 (lí "inside") + 劍 (kjæ̀m "sword").
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 May 6, 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 "shuriken", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency 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.