bleary-eyed

adj

"bleary-eyed" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency English
11
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Tired, because of lack of sleep, and having blurred or reddened eyes.

Corpus desk

Index EN-bleary-eyed · bleary-eyed · English

bleary-eyed · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-6 6 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 bleary-eyed
PropertyValue
Headwordbleary-eyed
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters11
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “bleary-eyed” in English

bleary-eyedsits 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

bleary-eyed is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Tired, because of lack of sleep, and having blurred or reddened eyes.".

Zero misspellings are on record for bleary-eyed in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Etymologically, the entry records: From bleary + eyed. The correct English form is bleary-eyed, spelled B-L-E-A-R-Y---E-Y-E-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    Tired, because of lack of sleep, and having blurred or reddened eyes.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Near-synonyms: exhausted, weary; see also Thesaurus:fatigued
  2. Bleary-eyed walkers prepared their kit for the final mountain, while the onboard crew fed and watered them, boosting people's energy levels for the last challenge.

Etymology

From bleary + eyed.

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 "bleary-eyed"?
"bleary-eyed" is spelled B-L-E-A-R-Y---E-Y-E-D.
What does "bleary-eyed" mean?
As an adjective, "bleary-eyed" means: Tired, because of lack of sleep, and having blurred or reddened eyes.
What is the origin of the word "bleary-eyed"?
From bleary + eyed. 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