wendigo
/ˈwɛndɪɡəʊ/
"wendigo" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“wendigo” is uncommon English (frequency #80,111 among 12,113 “W” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #80,111
- frequency rank, English
- 12,113
- “W” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A malevolent and violent cannibal spirit found in Anishinaabe, Ojibwe, and Cree mythology, which is said to inhabit the body of a living person and possess him or her to commit murder.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | wendigo |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈwɛndɪɡəʊ/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #80,111 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “wendigo” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
wendigo is uncommon English at frequency #80,111 among 12,113 “W” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈwɛndɪɡəʊ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for wendigo, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Ojibwe wiindigoo, from Proto-Algonquian *wi·nteko·wa (“owl; malevolent spirit, cannibalistic monster”). Compare Plains Cree wîhtikow, ᐃᐧᐦᑎᑯᐤ (“greedy person; cannibal; giant man-eating monster”). The correct English form is wendigo, spelled W-E-N-D-I-G-O.
Definition
- 1A malevolent and violent cannibal spirit found in Anishinaabe, Ojibwe, and Cree mythology, which is said to inhabit the body of a living person and possess him or her to commit murder.
- 2Synonym of splake (“kind of hybrid fish”).
Etymology
Borrowed from Ojibwe wiindigoo, from Proto-Algonquian *wi·nteko·wa (“owl; malevolent spirit, cannibalistic monster”). Compare Plains Cree wîhtikow, ᐃᐧᐦᑎᑯᐤ (“greedy person; cannibal; giant man-eating monster”).
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 “wendigo”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is W-E-N-D-I-G-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈwɛndɪɡəʊ/ (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
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.