breakdancing
"breakdancing" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“breakdancing” is uncommon English (frequency #80,267 among 31,241 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #80,267
- frequency rank, English
- 31,241
- “B” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An urban style of acrobatic street dance that originated in the hip hop culture of New York City in the late 20th century.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | breakdancing |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 12 |
| Frequency rank | #80,267 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “breakdancing” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
breakdancing is uncommon English at frequency #80,267 among 31,241 “B” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "An urban style of acrobatic street dance that originated in the hip hop culture of New York City in the late 20th century.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for breakdancing, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From break + dancing. Influenced by breakdown (the percussion break of songs chosen by a DJ for use in hip-hop music) -- breakdancers were originally those who danced to a breakdown. The correct English form is breakdancing, spelled B-R-E-A-K-D-A-N-C-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1An urban style of acrobatic street dance that originated in the hip hop culture of New York City in the late 20th century.
Etymology
From break + dancing. Influenced by breakdown (the percussion break of songs chosen by a DJ for use in hip-hop music) -- breakdancers were originally those who danced to a breakdown.
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 “breakdancing”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-R-E-A-K-D-A-N-C-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- 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.