barfly

/bɑːflaɪ/

//bɑːflaɪ// noun

"barfly" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“barfly” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
6
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A person who spends much time in a bar or similar drinking establishment

Corpus desk

Index EN-barfly · barfly · English

barfly · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 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 barfly
PropertyValue
Headwordbarfly
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/bɑːflaɪ/
Letters6
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “barfly” in English

barflysits beyond the 100,000 most-frequent English words, in the long tail of technical, archaic, or otherwise rare vocabulary where spelling doubt tends to strike hardest.

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

Rare enough to double-check

barfly is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /bɑːflaɪ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for barfly, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From bar + fly. The correct English form is barfly, spelled B-A-R-F-L-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    A person who spends much time in a bar or similar drinking establishment
  2. 2
    A promiscuous person, especially a woman, who frequents bars hoping to find sexual partners

Etymology

From bar + fly.

Synonyms

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 "barfly"?
"barfly" is spelled B-A-R-F-L-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /bɑːflaɪ/.
What does "barfly" mean?
As a noun, "barfly" means: A person who spends much time in a bar or similar drinking establishment
How do you pronounce "barfly"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "barfly" is /bɑːflaɪ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "barfly"?
From bar + fly. See the full etymology section above for more details.
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