cross someone's path
"cross-someone-s-path" is a 17-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cross someone's path” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 20
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To meet someone by chance.
Corpus desk
Index EN-cross-someone-s-path · cross someone's path · English
cross someone's path · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 20 letters
- VOW-6 6 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "C" 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cross someone's path |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 20 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “cross someone's path” in English
Rare enough to double-check
cross someone's path is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for cross someone's path in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct English form is cross someone's path, spelled C-R-O-S-S- -S-O-M-E-O-N-E-'-S- -P-A-T-H.
Definition
- 1To meet someone by chance.
- 2To oppose someone's plans.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how cross someone's path appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
None of the sportsmen who have crossed my path have made as great an impact on me as Ian.
Ewan McGregor is back as the lead character, Renton, perhaps best remembered for his visit in the first film to the “Worst Toilet in Scotland.” Robert Carlyle appears as Begbie, who starts brawls with almost anyone who crosses his path; Ewen Bremner returns as the dimwitted Spud, who, in the first movie, has a memorable job interview while high on speed;…
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.