tiger
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
5 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "tiger", 5-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "tiger" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "tiger" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
tiger is aEnglishnoun. It means: Panthera tigris, a large predatory mammal of the cat family, indigenous to Asia. Pronounced /ˈtaɪɡə/. It ranks #4,340 in English word frequency. Often confused with time and tire.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tiger |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈtaɪɡə/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #4,340 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for tiger is 5 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈtaɪɡə/. Corpus data places it at rank #4,340 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 16 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 6 documented wrong-spelling variants for tiger, with forms such as "itger", "tgier", and "tiegr". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "time", "tire", "tile", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English tygre, in part from Old English tigras (pl.), in part from Anglo-Norman tigre, both from Latin tigris, from Ancient Greek τίγρις (tígris), from Iranian (compare Avestan 𐬙𐬌𐬔𐬭𐬌 (tigri, “arrow”), 𐬙𐬌𐬖𐬭𐬀 (tiγra, “pointed”)). Ultimat… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is tiger, spelled T-I-G-E-R, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1Panthera tigris, a large predatory mammal of the cat family, indigenous to Asia.
- 2Panthera tigris, a large predatory mammal of the cat family, indigenous to Asia.
- 3Certain other animals that resemble true tigers in appearance, pattern, colouration, etc.
- 4Certain other animals that resemble true tigers in appearance, pattern, colouration, etc.
- 5Certain other animals that resemble true tigers in appearance, pattern, colouration, etc.
- 6Certain other animals that resemble true tigers in appearance, pattern, colouration, etc.
- 7Certain other animals that resemble true tigers in appearance, pattern, colouration, etc.
- 8Certain other animals that resemble true tigers in appearance, pattern, colouration, etc.
- 9Certain other animals that resemble true tigers in appearance, pattern, colouration, etc.
- 10A representation of a large mythological cat, used on a coat of arms.
- 11A leopard.
- 12A relatively small country or group of countries with a fast-growing economy.
- 13A servant in livery, who rides with his master or mistress.
- 14A person who is very athletic during sexual intercourse.
- 15A ferocious, bloodthirsty and audacious person.
- 16A pneumatic box or pan used in refining sugar.
Etymology
From Middle English tygre, in part from Old English tigras (pl.), in part from Anglo-Norman tigre, both from Latin tigris, from Ancient Greek τίγρις (tígris), from Iranian (compare Avestan 𐬙𐬌𐬔𐬭𐬌 (tigri, “arrow”), 𐬙𐬌𐬖𐬭𐬀 (tiγra, “pointed”)). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teyg- (“to pierce, prick, be sharp”). Compare English stick.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: itger,tgier,tiegr,tigerr,tigre,ttiger
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for tiger
Misspelling Variants of "tiger"
Frequency rank: #4,340 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter T in our English index: