dead leg
"dead-leg" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“dead leg” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A blow to the upper thigh, crushing the muscle against the bone and crushing the nerve cluster next to the quadriceps. Also, the resulting injury.
Corpus desk
Index EN-dead-leg · dead leg · English
dead leg · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "D" 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 | dead leg |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “dead leg” in English
Rare enough to double-check
dead leg is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for dead leg in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct English form is dead leg, spelled D-E-A-D- -L-E-G.
Definition
- 1A blow to the upper thigh, crushing the muscle against the bone and crushing the nerve cluster next to the quadriceps. Also, the resulting injury.
- 2Alternative form of deadleg (isolated section of pipe with no outflow).
- 3Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see dead, leg.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how dead leg appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
I kneed you, I said, and I gave him a dead leg.
Knowing all this it can still take you by surprise, like a dead leg or a sudden punch to the solar plexus.
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.