cutthroat

/ˈkʌtθɹoʊt/

//ˈkʌtθɹoʊt// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"cutthroat" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“cutthroat” has 12 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #35,242. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#35,242
frequency rank, English
5,599
“C” headwords
12
tracked misspellings

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A murderer who slits the throats of victims.

Corpus desk

Index EN-cutthroat · cutthroat · English

cutthroat · rank #35,242 · 12 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #35,242
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-MID 12 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,599
  • PHOTO-FINISH dailies

Nearest frequency peer: dailies (+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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “cutthroat”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “cutthroat” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for cutthroat
PropertyValue
Headwordcutthroat
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈkʌtθɹoʊt/
Letters9
Frequency rank#35,242
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “cutthroat”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).cutthroatlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “dailies” (#35,243), “Curtin” (#35,240), “Daria” (#35,244). Among 5,599 “C” headwords, “cutthroat” is #35,242. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 12 spelling variants around cutthroat (IPA /ˈkʌtθɹoʊt/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #35,242 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for cutthroat, with forms such as "ccutthroat", "ctuthroat", and "cuthroat". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From cut + throat. The correct English form is cutthroat, spelled C-U-T-T-H-R-O-A-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    A murderer who slits the throats of victims.
  2. 2
    An unscrupulous, ruthless or unethical person.
  3. 3
    A three-player pocket billiards game where the object is to be the last player with at least one ball still on the table.
  4. 4
    Ellipsis of cutthroat compound (“an agentive-instrumental verb-noun compound word”).

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how cutthroat appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The jail had not housed a white criminal in over four years, and there is seldom a prisoner of any kind, the Sheriff being a lazy no-good, prone to take his ease with a bottle of liquor, and let trouble-makers and thieves, even the most dangerous type of cutthroats, run free and wild.
  2. Children go through a phase of compound acquisition in which they invent cutthroats spontaneously before dropping the habit again.

Etymology

From cut + throat.

This word in other languages

canalla(Español)coupe-jarret(Français)Halsabschneider(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ccutthroat
  • ctuthroat
  • cuthroat
  • cuthtroat
  • cutthhroat
  • cutthorat
  • cutthraot
  • cutthroatt
  • cutthrota
  • cutthrroat
  • cuttrhoat
  • uctthroat

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of cutthroat - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

ccutthroat1ctuthroat2cuthroat1cuthtroat2cutthhroat1cutthorat2cutthraot2cutthroatt1
Edit distance from "cutthroat"

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

How do you spell "cutthroat"?
"cutthroat" is spelled C-U-T-T-H-R-O-A-T. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈkʌtθɹoʊt/.
What does "cutthroat" mean?
As a noun, "cutthroat" means: A murderer who slits the throats of victims.
What are common misspellings of "cutthroat"?
Common misspellings include "ccutthroat", "ctuthroat", "cuthroat", "cuthtroat", "cutthhroat". The correct spelling is "cutthroat".
How do you pronounce "cutthroat"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "cutthroat" is /ˈkʌtθɹoʊt/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "cutthroat"?
From cut + throat. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "cutthroat", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

crediting#35,236DeGeneres#35,250disarming#35,257colosseum#35,225

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).

devilish12 variantsdisloyal12 variantsbilliards12 variantsforetold12 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list