kuru

/kʊ.ˈru/

//kʊ.ˈru// noun

The verdict

“kuru” is uncommon Portuguese (frequency #94,940 among 95 “K” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#94,940
frequency rank, Portuguese
95
“K” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - doença causada por príons, identificada nas décadas de 1950 e 1960 na Papua-Nova Guiné

Corpus desk

Index PT-kuru · kuru · Portuguese

kuru · rank #94,940 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #94,940
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 95
  • PHOTO-FINISH kier

Nearest frequency peer: kier (-9 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.

Ranks da cauda longa perto de “kuru”

Faixa escassa: as barras invertem o rank para o raro ler-se mais curto

corpus weight

What this shows Vista da cauda longa: onde “kuru” se situa face a ranks portugueses igualmente raros.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for kuru
PropertyValue
Headwordkuru
LanguagePortuguese
Part of speechNoun
IPA/kʊ.ˈru/
Letters4
Frequency rank#94,940
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Cauda longa: rank de “kuru” em português

Esta escala corre do núcleo do português quotidiano (esquerda) até o rastro de formas raras (direita).kurucai nesta cauda de raridade:

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

O eixo é logarítmico: cada tick marca cerca de dez vezes menos frequência. Vizinhos raros da mesma faixa: “kier” (#94,931), “kien” (#94,930), “lias” (#94,951). Entre 95 lemas com “K”, “kuru” fica em #94,940. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

kuru is uncommon Portuguese at frequency #94,940 among 95 “K” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /kʊ.ˈru/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "doença causada por príons, identificada nas décadas de 1950 e 1960 na Papua-Nova Guiné".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for kuru, a sign its spelling follows regular Portuguese conventions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct Portuguese form is kuru, spelled K-U-R-U.

Definition

  1. 1
    doença causada por príons, identificada nas décadas de 1950 e 1960 na Papua-Nova Guiné

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

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "kuru"?
"kuru" is spelled K-U-R-U. The IPA pronunciation is /kʊ.ˈru/.
What does "kuru" mean?
As a noun, "kuru" means: doença causada por príons, identificada nas décadas de 1950 e 1960 na Papua-Nova Guiné
How do you pronounce "kuru"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "kuru" is /kʊ.ˈru/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "kuru" come from?
"kuru" is a Portuguese word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 Portuguese words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Portuguese headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list