antihero
/ˈæn.tɪˌhɪə.ɹəʊ/
"antihero" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“antihero” is an uncommon English word, ranked #68,011 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #68,011
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A protagonist who proceeds in an unheroic manner, such as by criminal means, via cowardly actions, or for mercenary goals.
| 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) |
Where “antihero” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for antihero is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈæn.tɪˌhɪə.ɹəʊ/. Corpus data places it at rank #68,011 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "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.
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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Using “antihero”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-N-T-I-H-E-R-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈæn.tɪˌhɪə.ɹəʊ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.