wushu
/ˈwuːˈʃuː/
"wushu" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“wushu” is uncommon English (frequency #75,567 among 1,759 “W” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #75,567
- frequency rank, English
- 1,759
- “W” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Any Chinese martial art.
Corpus desk
Index EN-wushu · wushu · English
wushu · rank #75,567 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #75,567
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,759
- PHOTO-FINISH Wyckoff
Nearest frequency peer: Wyckoff (+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 “wushu”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- woodblock
woodblock
24,439 corpus weight
- writting
writting
24,436 corpus weight
- wushu
wushu
24,434 corpus weight
- Wyckoff
Wyckoff
24,433 corpus weight
- yaks
yaks
24,429 corpus weight
- yola
yola
24,426 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “wushu” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | wushu |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈwuːˈʃuː/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #75,567 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “wushu” in English
Rare enough to double-check
wushu is uncommon English at frequency #75,567 among 1,759 “W” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈwuːˈʃuː/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for wushu, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Mandarin 武術／武术 (wǔshù, “martial techniques”). The correct English form is wushu, spelled W-U-S-H-U.
Definition
- 1Any Chinese martial art.
- 2A modern exhibition and full-contact sport based on traditional Chinese martial arts, created in the People's Republic of China. Also known as modern wushu or contemporary wushu.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how wushu appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The techniques of contemporary wushu are indeed those which at one time were used for self-defense, but the basis and development of wushu are different from kung fu.
Etymology
From Mandarin 武術／武术 (wǔshù, “martial techniques”).
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
How do you spell "wushu"?
What does "wushu" mean?
How do you pronounce "wushu"?
What is the origin of the word "wushu"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "wushu", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).