dear me
/ˌdɪəˈmiː/
"dear-me" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“dear me” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an interjection. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An expression of surprise, dismay, or indulgent disapproval.
Corpus desk
Index EN-dear-me · dear me · English
dear me · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 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 | dear me |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Interjection |
| IPA | /ˌdɪəˈmiː/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “dear me” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
dear me is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aninterjection, transcribed /ˌdɪəˈmiː/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "An expression of surprise, dismay, or indulgent disapproval.".
dear me has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is dear me, spelled D-E-A-R- -M-E.
Definition
- 1An expression of surprise, dismay, or indulgent disapproval.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how dear me appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
"Dear me, Mr. Holmes. Dear me!" said this singular epistle. There was neither superscription nor signature. I laughed at the quaint message; but Holmes showed unwonted seriousness.
"Dear me," said Mrs. Flanders, when she read in the Scarborough and Harrogate Courier that the Rev. Andrew Floyd, etc., etc., had been made Principal of Maresfield House, "that must be our Mr. Floyd."
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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What to do next
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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.