direct quote

noun

"direct-quote" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“direct quote” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
12
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A repetition or report of the exact words used in a text or source; usually with quotation marks when in written form, indicating where the verbatim quotation begins and ends.

Key facts for direct quote
PropertyValue
Headworddirect quote
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters12
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “direct quote” sits in English frequency

direct quote falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

direct quote is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A repetition or report of the exact words used in a text or source; usually with quotation marks when in written form, indicating where the verbatim quotation begins and ends.".

No misspelling variants are generated for direct quote in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, 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 direct quote, spelled D-I-R-E-C-T- -Q-U-O-T-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A repetition or report of the exact words used in a text or source; usually with quotation marks when in written form, indicating where the verbatim quotation begins and ends.

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

How do you spell "direct quote"?
"direct quote" is spelled D-I-R-E-C-T- -Q-U-O-T-E.
What does "direct quote" mean?
As a noun, "direct quote" means: A repetition or report of the exact words used in a text or source; usually with quotation marks when in written form, indicating where the verbatim quotation begins and ends.
What language does "direct quote" come from?
"direct quote" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

Using “direct quote”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is D-I-R-E-C-T- -Q-U-O-T-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list