bad-tempered

adj

"bad-tempered" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“bad-tempered” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
12
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Of or pertaining to bad temper; showing anger easily or customarily.

Corpus desk

Index EN-bad-tempered · bad-tempered · English

bad-tempered · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 12 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "B" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for bad-tempered
PropertyValue
Headwordbad-tempered
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters12
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “bad-tempered” in English

bad-temperedranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

bad-tempered is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Of or pertaining to bad temper; showing anger easily or customarily.".

bad-tempered doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is bad-tempered, spelled B-A-D---T-E-M-P-E-R-E-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    Of or pertaining to bad temper; showing anger easily or customarily.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. His bad-tempered outburst caught his friends by surprise.
  2. Jack is the most bad-tempered and violent man I know.

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

How do you spell "bad-tempered"?
"bad-tempered" is spelled B-A-D---T-E-M-P-E-R-E-D.
What does "bad-tempered" mean?
As an adjective, "bad-tempered" means: Of or pertaining to bad temper; showing anger easily or customarily.
What language does "bad-tempered" come from?
"bad-tempered" is a English 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list