burn away

verb

"burn-away" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency English
9
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To remove or be removed by burning.

Corpus desk

Index EN-burn-away · burn away · English

burn away · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "B" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for burn away
PropertyValue
Headwordburn away
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters9
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “burn away” in English

burn awayfalls 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

burn away is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for burn away, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is burn away, spelled B-U-R-N- -A-W-A-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    To remove or be removed by burning.
  2. 2
    to remove instantly and forcefully; to evaporate

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how burn away appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The laser burned away the excess body hair.
  2. In fact, McChrystal's whole manner was that of someone who's burned away frivolity and distractions from his life.

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 "burn away"?
"burn away" is spelled B-U-R-N- -A-W-A-Y.
What does "burn away" mean?
As a verb, "burn away" means: To remove or be removed by burning.
What language does "burn away" come from?
"burn away" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list