burn one's bridges
"burn-one-s-bridges" is a 15-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“burn one's bridges” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a verb - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 18
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To destroy one's path, connections, reputation, opportunities, etc., particularly intentionally.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | burn one's bridges |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 18 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “burn one's bridges” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for burn one's bridges is 18 letters long, classified as a verb. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "To destroy one's path, connections, reputation, opportunities, etc., particularly intentionally.".
No misspelling variants are generated for burn one's bridges in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. 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: Originally in military sense of intentionally cutting off one's own retreat (burning a bridge one has crossed) to commit oneself to a course of action, later used primarily to mean “alienate former friends”. The correct English form is burn one's bridges, spelled B-U-R-N- -O-N-E-'-S- -B-R-I-D-G-E-S.
Definition
- 1To destroy one's path, connections, reputation, opportunities, etc., particularly intentionally.
Etymology
Originally in military sense of intentionally cutting off one's own retreat (burning a bridge one has crossed) to commit oneself to a course of action, later used primarily to mean “alienate former friends”.
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “burn one's bridges”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-U-R-N- -O-N-E-'-S- -B-R-I-D-G-E-S - 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.