wagyu
/ˈwæɡ.juː/
"wagyu" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“wagyu” is uncommon English (frequency #70,389 among 1,759 “W” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #70,389
- frequency rank, English
- 1,759
- “W” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Any of several Japanese breeds of cattle genetically predisposed to intense marbling and to producing a high percentage of oleaginous unsaturated fat.
Corpus desk
Index EN-wagyu · wagyu · English
wagyu · rank #70,389 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #70,389
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,759
- PHOTO-FINISH Wallin
Nearest frequency peer: Wallin (+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 “wagyu”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- vio
vio
29,618 corpus weight
- vocalization
vocalization
29,615 corpus weight
- vociferously
vociferously
29,614 corpus weight
- wagyu
wagyu
29,612 corpus weight
- Wallin
Wallin
29,611 corpus weight
- warbling
warbling
29,610 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “wagyu” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | wagyu |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈwæɡ.juː/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #70,389 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “wagyu” in English
Rare enough to double-check
wagyu is uncommon English at frequency #70,389 among 1,759 “W” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈwæɡ.juː/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for wagyu, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Japanese 和(わ)牛(ぎゅう) (wagyū), from Middle Chinese 和 (MC hwa, “a gloss for 倭 (MC 'wa, “Japan”)”) + 牛 (MC ngjuw, “cow”). The correct English form is wagyu, spelled W-A-G-Y-U.
Definition
- 1Any of several Japanese breeds of cattle genetically predisposed to intense marbling and to producing a high percentage of oleaginous unsaturated fat.
- 2Beef from such cattle.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how wagyu appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Slices of wagyu beef come with spheres of root vegetables and mini-towers of polenta.
Etymology
From Japanese 和(わ)牛(ぎゅう) (wagyū), from Middle Chinese 和 (MC hwa, “a gloss for 倭 (MC 'wa, “Japan”)”) + 牛 (MC ngjuw, “cow”).
Synonyms
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "wagyu", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).