tapu
/ˈtɑːpuː/
"tapu" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“tapu” is uncommon English (frequency #79,115 among 3,151 “T” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #79,115
- frequency rank, English
- 3,151
- “T” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Alternative form of taboo.
Corpus desk
Index EN-tapu · tapu · English
tapu · rank #79,115 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #79,115
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,151
- PHOTO-FINISH Tauber
Nearest frequency peer: Tauber (+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 “tapu”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Tacloban
Tacloban
20,891 corpus weight
- Takayama
Takayama
20,890 corpus weight
- tapu
tapu
20,886 corpus weight
- Tauber
Tauber
20,885 corpus weight
- Taye
Taye
20,884 corpus weight
- TEFL
TEFL
20,883 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “tapu” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tapu |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈtɑːpuː/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #79,115 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “tapu” in English
Rare enough to double-check
tapu is uncommon English at frequency #79,115 among 3,151 “T” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈtɑːpuː/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Alternative form of taboo.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for tapu, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Māori tapu. Doublet of kapu. The correct English form is tapu, spelled T-A-P-U.
Definition
- 1Alternative form of taboo.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how tapu appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Spies were sent to test the Moriori’s mettle by violating tapu & despoiling holy sites.
Etymology
Borrowed from Māori tapu. Doublet of kapu.
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 "tapu"?
What does "tapu" mean?
How do you pronounce "tapu"?
What is the origin of the word "tapu"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "tapu", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).