burden of proof

noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"burden-of-proof" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“burden of proof” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
15
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The duty of a party in a legal proceeding to prove an assertion of fact; it includes both the burden of production and the burden of persuasion; the onus probandi.

Key facts for burden of proof
PropertyValue
Headwordburden of proof
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters15
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “burden of proof” sits in English frequency

burden of proof falls 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

burden of proof is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for burden of proof in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: Calque of Latin onus probandi. The correct English form is burden of proof, spelled B-U-R-D-E-N- -O-F- -P-R-O-O-F.

Definition

  1. 1
    The duty of a party in a legal proceeding to prove an assertion of fact; it includes both the burden of production and the burden of persuasion; the onus probandi.
  2. 2
    The obligation of the person making a claim in a dispute to provide sufficient evidence for their position.

Etymology

Calque of Latin onus probandi.

Synonyms

onus probandi

This word in other languages

charge de la preuve(Français)Beweislast(Deutsch)

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 "burden of proof"?
"burden of proof" is spelled B-U-R-D-E-N- -O-F- -P-R-O-O-F.
What does "burden of proof" mean?
As a noun, "burden of proof" means: The duty of a party in a legal proceeding to prove an assertion of fact; it includes both the burden of production and the burden of persuasion; the onus probandi.
What is the origin of the word "burden of proof"?
Calque of Latin onus probandi. 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.

Using “burden of proof”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is B-U-R-D-E-N- -O-F- -P-R-O-O-F - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list