crestfallen
/ˈkɹɛstfɔːlən/
"crestfallen" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“crestfallen” is uncommon English (frequency #78,497 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #78,497
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Sad because of a disappointment.
Corpus desk
Index EN-crestfallen · crestfallen · English
crestfallen · rank #78,497 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #78,497
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH cran
Nearest frequency peer: cran (-1 rank slots)
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.
Long-tail ranks near “crestfallen”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- correlative
correlative
21,508 corpus weight
- coxswain
coxswain
21,506 corpus weight
- cran
cran
21,505 corpus weight
- crestfallen
crestfallen
21,504 corpus weight
- culottes
culottes
21,501 corpus weight
- Curaçao
Curaçao
21,500 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “crestfallen” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | crestfallen |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈkɹɛstfɔːlən/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #78,497 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “crestfallen” in English
Rare enough to double-check
crestfallen is uncommon English at frequency #78,497 among 5,599 “C” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈkɹɛstfɔːlən/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for crestfallen, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From crest + fallen, from the appearance of a horse with its crest (head) on its chest after defeat in a battle. The correct English form is crestfallen, spelled C-R-E-S-T-F-A-L-L-E-N.
Definition
- 1Sad because of a disappointment.
- 2Having the crest, or upper part of the neck, hanging to one side.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how crestfallen appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Tom's cheeks burned. He gathered himself up and sneaked off, crushed and crestfallen.
Gregson looked quite crest-fallen.
Etymology
From crest + fallen, from the appearance of a horse with its crest (head) on its chest after defeat in a battle.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "crestfallen", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).