tosa

noun

"tosa" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“tosa” is uncommon English (frequency #86,862 among 3,151 “T” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#86,862
frequency rank, English
3,151
“T” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A Japanese breed of fighting dog

Corpus desk

Index EN-tosa · tosa · English

tosa · rank #86,862 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #86,862
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,151
  • PHOTO-FINISH tortious

Nearest frequency peer: tortious (-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 “tosa”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for tosa
PropertyValue
Headwordtosa
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters4
Frequency rank#86,862
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “tosa” in English

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).tosafalls in this rarity band:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “tortious” (#86,861), “toiletry” (#86,858), “ticky” (#86,853). Among 3,151 “T” headwords, “tosa” is #86,862. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

tosa is uncommon English at frequency #86,862 among 3,151 “T” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A Japanese breed of fighting dog".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for tosa, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Japanese 土佐 (Tosa), according to the former Tosa province on the island of Shikoku where the dog was originally bred. The correct English form is tosa, spelled T-O-S-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    A Japanese breed of fighting dog

Etymology

From Japanese 土佐 (Tosa), according to the former Tosa province on the island of Shikoku where the dog was originally bred.

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 "tosa"?
"tosa" is spelled T-O-S-A.
What does "tosa" mean?
As a noun, "tosa" means: A Japanese breed of fighting dog
What is the origin of the word "tosa"?
From Japanese 土佐 (Tosa), according to the former Tosa province on the island of Shikoku where the dog was originally bred. 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 "tosa", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list