breathy
/ˈbɹɛθi/
"breathy" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“breathy” is uncommon English (frequency #63,479 among 4,121 “B” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #63,479
- frequency rank, English
- 4,121
- “B” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Accompanied by audible breathing.
Corpus desk
Index EN-breathy · breathy · English
breathy · rank #63,479 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #63,479
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,121
- PHOTO-FINISH brawny
Nearest frequency peer: brawny (-2 rank slots)
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.
Long-tail ranks near “breathy”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- braindead
braindead
36,527 corpus weight
- Branco
Branco
36,526 corpus weight
- Braunschweig
Braunschweig
36,525 corpus weight
- brawny
brawny
36,524 corpus weight
- breathy
breathy
36,522 corpus weight
- BTEC
BTEC
36,518 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “breathy” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | breathy |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈbɹɛθi/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #63,479 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “breathy” in English
Rare enough to double-check
breathy is uncommon English at frequency #63,479 among 4,121 “B” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈbɹɛθi/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Accompanied by audible breathing.".
breathy has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From breath + -y. The correct English form is breathy, spelled B-R-E-A-T-H-Y.
Definition
- 1Accompanied by audible breathing.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how breathy appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
She had cold sores on her upper lip which made her mouth look swollen and ugly. But from a distance it was not noticeable – like the spit and breathy sounds.
Etymology
From breath + -y.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "breathy", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).