antihero
/ˈæn.tɪˌhɪə.ɹəʊ/
"antihero" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“antihero” is uncommon English (frequency #68,011 among 3,931 “A” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #68,011
- frequency rank, English
- 3,931
- “A” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A protagonist who proceeds in an unheroic manner, such as by criminal means, via cowardly actions, or for mercenary goals.
Corpus desk
Index EN-antihero · antihero · English
antihero · rank #68,011 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #68,011
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,931
- PHOTO-FINISH anteater
Nearest frequency peer: anteater (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
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.
Long-tail ranks near “antihero”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- alim
alim
31,995 corpus weight
- aniline
aniline
31,993 corpus weight
- anklet
anklet
31,992 corpus weight
- anteater
anteater
31,991 corpus weight
- antihero
antihero
31,990 corpus weight
- antitank
antitank
31,989 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “antihero” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | antihero |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈæn.tɪˌhɪə.ɹəʊ/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #68,011 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “antihero” in English
Rare enough to double-check
antihero is uncommon English at frequency #68,011 among 3,931 “A” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈæn.tɪˌhɪə.ɹəʊ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A protagonist who proceeds in an unheroic manner, such as by criminal means, via cowardly actions, or for mercenary goals.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for antihero, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From anti- + hero. The correct English form is antihero, spelled A-N-T-I-H-E-R-O.
Definition
- 1A protagonist who proceeds in an unheroic manner, such as by criminal means, via cowardly actions, or for mercenary goals.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how antihero appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Alienation: A stage on the downside of the passage wherein the holdfast and the antihero take actions which bring about a disintegration of personality.
JK Rowling says that “girls are very apt to romanticise” the antihero, and reveals that she had been forced to pour “cold common sense” on the startling number of readers who fall for the arrogant, unscrupulous bully Draco Malfoy in her Harry Potter books.
Etymology
From anti- + hero.
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 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "antihero", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).