chau
[ˈt͡ʃaw]
The verdict
“chau” is a moderately-common Spanish word, ranked #11,190 in Spanish word frequency and used as an interjection.
- #11,190
- frequency rank, Spanish
- 4
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Manera informal y rápida de despedirse.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | chau |
| Language | Spanish |
| Part of speech | Interjection |
| IPA | [ˈt͡ʃaw] |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #11,190 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “chau” sits in Spanish frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The Spanish entry for chau is 4 letters long, classified as an interjection, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈt͡ʃaw]. Corpus data places it at rank #11,190 in overall Spanish word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Manera informal y rápida de despedirse.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for chau, with forms such as "cahu", "cchau", and "chhau". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "cu", "che", "chi", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct Spanish form is chau, spelled C-H-A-U.
Definition
- 1Manera informal y rápida de despedirse.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: cahu,cchau,chhau,chua,hcau
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of chau - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "chau"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “chau”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Spanish spelling is C-H-A-U - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ˈt͡ʃaw] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “cu” - see the side-by-side comparison. chau vs cu
- Browse more Spanish words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Spanish 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.