boldly go where no man has gone before

verb

"boldly-go-where-no-man-has-gone-before" is a 31-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“boldly go where no man has gone before” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
38
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To break new ground.

Corpus desk

Index EN-boldly-go-where-no-man-h · boldly go where no man has gone before · English

boldly go where no man has gone before · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 38 letters
  • VOW-13 13 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 boldly go where no man has gone before
PropertyValue
Headwordboldly go where no man has gone before
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters38
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “boldly go where no man has gone before” in English

boldly go where no man has gone beforefalls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

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

Rare enough to double-check

boldly go where no man has gone before is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To break new ground.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for boldly go where no man has gone before, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

Etymologically, the entry records: A line from the opening sequence of the Star Trek TV series. The correct English form is boldly go where no man has gone before, spelled B-O-L-D-L-Y- -G-O- -W-H-E-R-E- -N-O- -M-A-N- -H-A-S- -G-O-N-E- -B-E-F-O-R-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    To break new ground.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how boldly go where no man has gone before appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. While Strauss would not exactly be boldly going where no man has gone before if he led England to victories this year in away Test series against Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India, he set foot on an airbus to Dubai knowing that 2012 represents the last great examination of his side.
  2. E-Racer Based loosely upon one of the original Rutan designs, the airplane goes where no man has gone before. In the first place, the composite canard machine is the first known example of the Rutan Long-EZ clones to have

Etymology

A line from the opening sequence of the Star Trek TV series.

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 "boldly go where no man has gone before"?
"boldly go where no man has gone before" is spelled B-O-L-D-L-Y- -G-O- -W-H-E-R-E- -N-O- -M-A-N- -H-A-S- -G-O-N-E- -B-E-F-O-R-E.
What does "boldly go where no man has gone before" mean?
As a verb, "boldly go where no man has gone before" means: To break new ground.
What is the origin of the word "boldly go where no man has gone before"?
A line from the opening sequence of the Star Trek TV series. 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