squaw

\skwo\

/\skwo\/ noun

The verdict

“squaw” is uncommon French (frequency #79,763 among 6,032 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#79,763
frequency rank, French
6,032
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Femme indienne d’Amérique du Nord.

Corpus desk

Index FR-squaw · squaw · French

squaw · rank #79,763 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #79,763
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,032
  • PHOTO-FINISH sprinters

Nearest frequency peer: sprinters (-2 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.

Rangs de longue queue près de « squaw »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « squaw » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for squaw
PropertyValue
Headwordsquaw
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\skwo\
Letters5
Frequency rank#79,763
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « squaw » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).squawtombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « sprinters » (#79,761), « stoïcien » (#79,765), « spooky » (#79,760). Parmi 6,032 lemmes en « S », « squaw » est au #79,763. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

squaw is uncommon French at frequency #79,763 among 6,032 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \skwo\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Femme indienne d’Amérique du Nord.".

squaw has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is squaw, spelled S-Q-U-A-W.

Definition

  1. 1
    Femme indienne d’Amérique du Nord.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Ces chefs, au nombre d’une douzaine, n’avaient point amené leurs femmes, malheureuses « squaws » qui ne s’élèvent guère au-dessus de la condition d’esclaves.
  2. Si jolie, si délicate – on aurait dit qu’elle n’appartenait pas à la même espèce que les squaws apaches, lourdes, grosses, trapues, qui ne savaient s’exprimer qu’en vociférant, rusées comme des singes, cruelles comme des panthères.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "squaw"?
"squaw" is spelled S-Q-U-A-W. The IPA pronunciation is \skwo\.
What does "squaw" mean?
As a noun, "squaw" means: Femme indienne d’Amérique du Nord.
How do you pronounce "squaw"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "squaw" is \skwo\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "squaw" come from?
"squaw" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 French words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list