sommelier

/ˌsɒmˈmɛli.ə/

//ˌsɒmˈmɛli.ə// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"sommelier" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“sommelier” is uncommon English (frequency #54,499 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#54,499
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The member of staff at a restaurant who keeps the wine cellar and advises the guests on a choice of wines; a wine steward / stewardess, a wine waiter / waitress / server.

Corpus desk

Index EN-sommelier · sommelier · English

sommelier · rank #54,499 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #54,499
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH somersault

Nearest frequency peer: somersault (-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 “sommelier”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “sommelier” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for sommelier
PropertyValue
Headwordsommelier
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˌsɒmˈmɛli.ə/
Letters9
Frequency rank#54,499
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “sommelier” in English

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).sommelierfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “somersault” (#54,498), “sociopolitical” (#54,497), “soba” (#54,496). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “sommelier” is #54,499. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

sommelier is uncommon English at frequency #54,499 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌsɒmˈmɛli.ə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The member of staff at a restaurant who keeps the wine cellar and advises the guests on a choice of wines; a wine steward / stewardess, a wine waiter / waitress / server.".

No generated misspelling entries exist for sommelier in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French sommelier (“originally, a person in charge of the beasts of burden carrying wine”), from somme (“pack”) + -ier (suffix forming the names of jobs). somme is from Vulgar Latin *sauma, from Latin sagma (“packsaddle”). The correct English form is sommelier, spelled S-O-M-M-E-L-I-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    The member of staff at a restaurant who keeps the wine cellar and advises the guests on a choice of wines; a wine steward / stewardess, a wine waiter / waitress / server.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how sommelier appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The sommelier recommended the perfect wine, opened the bottle with panache, and served it into glasses.
  2. A Sommelier or wine steward organizes a restaurant's entire wine program, from tasting to pairing of wines with foods the chef might prepare according to seasonal meat, seafood, and produce availability, to ordering and keeping inventory, staying on top of local, domestic, and foreign releases, and educating waitstaff about wines and their nuances. […] A…

Etymology

Borrowed from French sommelier (“originally, a person in charge of the beasts of burden carrying wine”), from somme (“pack”) + -ier (suffix forming the names of jobs). somme is from Vulgar Latin *sauma, from Latin sagma (“packsaddle”).

Synonyms

sommwine serverwine stewardwine stewardesswine waiterwine waitress

This word in other languages

sumiller(Español)sommelier(Français)Weinkellner(Deutsch)

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

How do you spell "sommelier"?
"sommelier" is spelled S-O-M-M-E-L-I-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is /ˌsɒmˈmɛli.ə/.
What does "sommelier" mean?
As a noun, "sommelier" means: The member of staff at a restaurant who keeps the wine cellar and advises the guests on a choice of wines; a wine steward / stewardess, a wine waiter / waitress / server.
How do you pronounce "sommelier"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "sommelier" is /ˌsɒmˈmɛli.ə/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "sommelier"?
Borrowed from French sommelier (“originally, a person in charge of the beasts of burden carrying wine”), from somme (“pack”) + -ier (suffix forming the names of jobs). somme is from Vulgar Latin *sauma, from Latin sagma (“packsaddle”). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "sommelier", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

shriveled#54,485shipboard#54,481semicolon#54,472thirtieth#54,533

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list