cuy

[ˈkuj]

/[ˈkuj]/ noun

The verdict

“cuy” is uncommon Spanish (frequency #56,229 among 8,288 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#56,229
frequency rank, Spanish
8,288
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Mamífero roedor sudamericano, estrictamente herbívoro. Pesa alrededor de un kilo, vive en áreas abiertas y utiliza hoyos y madrigueras para ocultarse y protegerse; tienen una longevidad de cuatro a...

Corpus desk

Index ES-cuy · cuy · Spanish

cuy · rank #56,229 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #56,229
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,288
  • PHOTO-FINISH Curran

Nearest frequency peer: Curran (-1 rank slots)

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.

Rangos de cola larga cerca de “cuy”

Banda escasa: las barras invierten el rango para que lo raro se lea más corto

corpus weight

What this shows Vista de cola larga: dónde “cuy” se sitúa frente a rangos españoles igualmente raros.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for cuy
PropertyValue
Headwordcuy
LanguageSpanish
Part of speechNoun
IPA[ˈkuj]
Letters3
Frequency rank#56,229
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Cola larga: rango de “cuy” en español

De izquierda a derecha: las pocas palabras que cargan el habla diaria, luego la cola larga casi invisible.cuycae en esta cola de rareza:

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

El eje es logarítmico: cada tick marca unas diez veces menos frecuencia. Vecinos raros de la misma franja: “Curran” (#56,228), “currado” (#56,227), “curaduría” (#56,226). Entre 8,288 lemas con “C”, “cuy” va en #56,229. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

cuy is uncommon Spanish at frequency #56,229 among 8,288 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [ˈkuj]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for cuy in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct Spanish form is cuy, spelled C-U-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    Mamífero roedor sudamericano, estrictamente herbívoro. Pesa alrededor de un kilo, vive en áreas abiertas y utiliza hoyos y madrigueras para ocultarse y protegerse; tienen una longevidad de cuatro a seis años. Los incas domesticaron y criaron estos roedores para aprovechar su carne y su piel. En la actualidad se le cría para usarlo en experimentos científicos y cada vez más, para tenerlos como mascotas.
  2. 2
    Buscapiés, cohete.

Synonyms

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 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "cuy"?
"cuy" is spelled C-U-Y. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈkuj].
What does "cuy" mean?
As a noun, "cuy" means: Mamífero roedor sudamericano, estrictamente herbívoro. Pesa alrededor de un kilo, vive en áreas abiertas y utiliza hoyos y madrigueras para ocultarse y protegerse; tienen una longevidad de cuatro a...
How do you pronounce "cuy"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "cuy" is [ˈkuj]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "cuy" come from?
"cuy" is a Spanish word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 Spanish words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "cuy", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Spanish headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list