bothy
/ˈbɒθi/
"bothy" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bothy” is uncommon English (frequency #88,140 among 31,241 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #88,140
- frequency rank, English
- 31,241
- “B” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A small cottage or hut; specifically (Scotland), one often left unlocked for communal use in a remote, often mountainous, area by hikers, labourers, etc.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | bothy |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbɒθi/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #88,140 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “bothy” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
bothy is uncommon English at frequency #88,140 among 31,241 “B” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈbɒθi/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for bothy, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: Probably from booth + -y (diminutive suffix). Booth is ultimately derived from Proto-Germanic *bōþō (“building; dwelling; hut”), from *būaną (“to dwell, reside”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to be”). The short vowel /ɒ/, /ɑ/, etc., in the fir… The correct English form is bothy, spelled B-O-T-H-Y.
Definition
- 1A small cottage or hut; specifically (Scotland), one often left unlocked for communal use in a remote, often mountainous, area by hikers, labourers, etc.
- 2A building for workers to rest in.
- 3A building on a farm, sometimes with just one room, for (usually unmarried male) farmworkers or other labourers to live in.
Etymology
Probably from booth + -y (diminutive suffix). Booth is ultimately derived from Proto-Germanic *bōþō (“building; dwelling; hut”), from *būaną (“to dwell, reside”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to be”). The short vowel /ɒ/, /ɑ/, etc., in the first syllable instead of the long vowel /uː/ in booth may be due to the influence of Irish both and Scottish Gaelic both (“booth, hut”), which have the same etymology as booth.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “bothy”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-O-T-H-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈbɒθi/ (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
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.