broody
/ˈbɹuːdi/
"broody" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“broody” is uncommon English (frequency #71,358 among 31,241 “B” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #71,358
- frequency rank, English
- 31,241
- “B” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Of birds: sitting persistently and protectively on a nest, in order to hatch eggs.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | broody |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈbɹuːdi/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #71,358 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “broody” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
broody is uncommon English at frequency #71,358 among 31,241 “B” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈbɹuːdi/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for broody in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English *brody, *brodi, from Old English brōdiġ (“broody”), equivalent to brood + -y. Cognate with German brütig (“broody”). The correct English form is broody, spelled B-R-O-O-D-Y.
Definition
- 1Of birds: sitting persistently and protectively on a nest, in order to hatch eggs.
- 2Of any creature or person: showing an interest in raising young.
- 3Brooding, dwelling upon one's thoughts; moody.
- 4Gloomy.
Etymology
From Middle English *brody, *brodi, from Old English brōdiġ (“broody”), equivalent to brood + -y. Cognate with German brütig (“broody”).
Synonyms
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 “broody”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-R-O-O-D-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈbɹuːdi/ (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.