Tarzan
/ˈtɑɹzæn/
"tarzan" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Tarzan” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #23,413 in English word frequency and used as a proper noun.
- #23,413
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 9
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A heroic fictional character, raised from a baby to adulthood in the African jungle by apes.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Tarzan |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈtɑɹzæn/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #23,413 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 9 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Tarzan” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Tarzan is 6 letters long, classified as a proper noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈtɑɹzæn/. Corpus data places it at rank #23,413 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A heroic fictional character, raised from a baby to adulthood in the African jungle by apes.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for Tarzan, with forms such as "atrzan", "tarazn", and "tarrzan". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 9 confusable-pair relationships, "Tran", "turban", "Tasman", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Coined by Edgar Rice Burroughs in 1912. A name created by Burroughs for his fiction. In the fictional ape language of the books, "tarzan" means "white-skin"; possibly echoic in its phonetics of various "exotic" names (see Orientalism). The correct English form is Tarzan, spelled T-A-R-Z-A-N.
Definition
- 1A heroic fictional character, raised from a baby to adulthood in the African jungle by apes.
Etymology
Coined by Edgar Rice Burroughs in 1912. A name created by Burroughs for his fiction. In the fictional ape language of the books, "tarzan" means "white-skin"; possibly echoic in its phonetics of various "exotic" names (see Orientalism).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: atrzan,tarazn,tarrzan,tarzann,tarzna,tarzzan,tazran,trazan,ttarzan
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Tarzan - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 “Tarzan”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-A-R-Z-A-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈtɑɹzæn/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Tran” - see the side-by-side comparison. Tarzan vs Tran
- 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.