crosswind
/ˈkɹɑːs.wɪnd/
"crosswind" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“crosswind” is uncommon English (frequency #79,425 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #79,425
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A wind blowing across a line of travel, especially perpendicularly.
Corpus desk
Index EN-crosswind · crosswind · English
crosswind · rank #79,425 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #79,425
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH Cromarty
Nearest frequency peer: Cromarty (-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 “crosswind”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- creaks
creaks
20,581 corpus weight
- crewmember
crewmember
20,579 corpus weight
- Cromarty
Cromarty
20,577 corpus weight
- crosswind
crosswind
20,576 corpus weight
- cryptically
cryptically
20,574 corpus weight
- Curragh
Curragh
20,571 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “crosswind” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | crosswind |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkɹɑːs.wɪnd/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #79,425 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “crosswind” in English
Rare enough to double-check
crosswind is uncommon English at frequency #79,425 among 5,599 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈkɹɑːs.wɪnd/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A wind blowing across a line of travel, especially perpendicularly.".
No misspelling variants are generated for crosswind in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From cross- + wind. The correct English form is crosswind, spelled C-R-O-S-S-W-I-N-D.
Definition
- 1A wind blowing across a line of travel, especially perpendicularly.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how crosswind appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Correlation of the DFDR and CVR recordings disclosed that the flightcrew had set the flaps and stabilizer trim at 10° and about 5° aircraft noseup, respectively, for takeoff. A rolling takeoff was made, takeoff thrust was stabilized at 80 KIAS, and left rudder and right aileron were used to compensate for the right crosswind. The V₁ and V_R callouts were…
As part of its application, Macy's submitted "balloon control plans" describing how handlers, under the direction of a "pilot," were to navigate through intersections, where crosswinds can destabilize the balloons.
Etymology
From cross- + wind.
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 "crosswind", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).