wayfarer
/ˈweɪˌfɛəɹ.ə(ɹ)/
"wayfarer" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“wayfarer” is an uncommon English word, ranked #61,904 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #61,904
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A traveller, especially one on foot.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | wayfarer |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈweɪˌfɛəɹ.ə(ɹ)/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #61,904 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “wayfarer” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for wayfarer is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈweɪˌfɛəɹ.ə(ɹ)/. Corpus data places it at rank #61,904 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A traveller, especially one on foot.".
wayfarer has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English weyfarere, weifarere; equivalent to way + farer. The correct English form is wayfarer, spelled W-A-Y-F-A-R-E-R.
Definition
- 1A traveller, especially one on foot.
Etymology
From Middle English weyfarere, weifarere; equivalent to way + farer.
This word in other languages
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 “wayfarer”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is W-A-Y-F-A-R-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈweɪˌfɛəɹ.ə(ɹ)/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.