crikey
/ˈkɹaɪki/
"crikey" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“crikey” is an uncommon English word, ranked #54,716 in English word frequency and used as an interjection.
- #54,716
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An exclamation of astonishment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | crikey |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Interjection |
| IPA | /ˈkɹaɪki/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #54,716 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “crikey” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for crikey is 6 letters long, classified as an interjection, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈkɹaɪki/. Corpus data places it at rank #54,716 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "An exclamation of astonishment.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for crikey, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: Euphemistic substitute for Christ, perhaps a corruption of Christ King. Compare criminy, cripes, crivvens. Attested from the 19th century. The correct English form is crikey, spelled C-R-I-K-E-Y.
Definition
- 1An exclamation of astonishment.
Etymology
Euphemistic substitute for Christ, perhaps a corruption of Christ King. Compare criminy, cripes, crivvens. Attested from the 19th century.
Synonyms
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 “crikey”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-R-I-K-E-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈkɹaɪki/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.