counterclaim
"counterclaim" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“counterclaim” is uncommon English (frequency #73,994 among 43,570 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #73,994
- frequency rank, English
- 43,570
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A suit filed by a defendant against a plaintiff secondary to the original complaint.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | counterclaim |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 12 |
| Frequency rank | #73,994 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “counterclaim” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
counterclaim is uncommon English at frequency #73,994 among 43,570 “C” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for counterclaim, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From counter- + claim. The correct English form is counterclaim, spelled C-O-U-N-T-E-R-C-L-A-I-M.
Definition
- 1A suit filed by a defendant against a plaintiff secondary to the original complaint.
- 2A claim (assertion) that counters (disputes) another.
Etymology
From counter- + claim.
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 “counterclaim”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-O-U-N-T-E-R-C-L-A-I-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- 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.