an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth
"an-eye-for-an-eye-a-tooth-for-a-tooth" is a 28-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a proverb - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 38
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - compensation for injury caused by a person, in the form of inflicting of an identical injury on that person.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proverb |
| Letters | 38 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth is 38 letters long, classified as a proverb. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "compensation for injury caused by a person, in the form of inflicting of an identical injury on that person.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Reference to Exodus 21:23-25: "And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe". (King James Version) The correct English form is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, spelled A-N- -E-Y-E- -F-O-R- -A-N- -E-Y-E-,- -A- -T-O-O-T-H- -F-O-R- -A- -T-O-O-T-H.
Definition
- 1compensation for injury caused by a person, in the form of inflicting of an identical injury on that person.
Etymology
Reference to Exodus 21:23-25: "And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe". (King James Version)
Synonyms
Antonyms
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-N- -E-Y-E- -F-O-R- -A-N- -E-Y-E-,- -A- -T-O-O-T-H- -F-O-R- -A- -T-O-O-T-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English 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.