wendigo

/ˈwɛndɪɡəʊ/

//ˈwɛndɪɡəʊ// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"wendigo" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“wendigo” is uncommon English (frequency #80,111 among 1,759 “W” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#80,111
frequency rank, English
1,759
“W” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 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.

Corpus desk

Index EN-wendigo · wendigo · English

wendigo · rank #80,111 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #80,111
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,759
  • PHOTO-FINISH westernization

Nearest frequency peer: westernization (+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 “wendigo”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for wendigo
PropertyValue
Headwordwendigo
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈwɛndɪɡəʊ/
Letters7
Frequency rank#80,111
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “wendigo” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).wendigofalls in this rarity band:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “westernization” (#80,112), “wearied” (#80,109), “weaponize” (#80,108). Among 1,759 “W” headwords, “wendigo” is #80,111. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

wendigo is uncommon English at frequency #80,111 among 1,759 “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

  1. 1
    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.
  2. 2
    Synonym of splake (“kind of hybrid fish”).

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how wendigo appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Through the pine woods of Keewaydin, / Over the snows of Shebandowan, / The Wendigo roams in the winter's frost / And pursues to destruction the hunter. / Yet no man can meet with the Wendigo, / No man can face him or see him; / Only his track in the snow is seen, / And lost is the hunter that sees it. […] The heart that ne'er quailed on the war-path / Tu…
  2. The Windigo is a flesh-eating, wintry demon with a man buried deep inside of it. In some Chippewa stories, a young girl vanquishes this monster by forcing boiling lard down its throat, thereby releasing the human at the core of ice.

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

wendigo(Français)Wendigo(Deutsch)

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 "wendigo"?
"wendigo" is spelled W-E-N-D-I-G-O. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈwɛndɪɡəʊ/.
What does "wendigo" mean?
As a noun, "wendigo" means: 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.
How do you pronounce "wendigo"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "wendigo" is /ˈwɛndɪɡəʊ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "wendigo"?
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”). 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 "wendigo", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

wearied#80,109Whatcom#80,116vernier#80,098varmint#80,091

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list