don't mess with success

proverb

Detailed reference entry for the English word "don-t-mess-with-success", 23-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Wiktionary, and usage frequency ranked against an open word-frequency list covering the top 100,000 English words. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "don-t-mess-with-success" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "don-t-mess-with-success" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

The verdict

“don't mess with success” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a proverb - the kind of word writers most often double-check.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
23
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Synonym of if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

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Key facts for don't mess with success
PropertyValue
Headworddon't mess with success
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechProverb
Letters23
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “don't mess with success” sits in English frequency

don't mess with success 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.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for don't mess with success is 23 letters long, classified as a proverb. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Synonym of if it ain't broke, don't fix it.".

No misspelling variants are generated for don't mess with success in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: Cited in print in 1964. Popularized in the 1960s. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is don't mess with success, spelled D-O-N-'-T- -M-E-S-S- -W-I-T-H- -S-U-C-C-E-S-S, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Synonym of if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Etymology

Cited in print in 1964. Popularized in the 1960s.

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.

Cite this page

Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY-SA). Copy the citation:

PlainSpell, “don't mess with success, English word data” (May 6, 2026). Derived from Wiktionary (kaikki.org, CC BY-SA) and an open word-frequency list. https://plainspell.com/en/word/don-t-mess-with-success

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "don't mess with success"?
"don't mess with success" is spelled D-O-N-'-T- -M-E-S-S- -W-I-T-H- -S-U-C-C-E-S-S.
What does "don't mess with success" mean?
As a proverb, "don't mess with success" means: Synonym of if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
What is the origin of the word "don't mess with success"?
Cited in print in 1964. Popularized in the 1960s. 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.

Using “don't mess with success”

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

  • The one correct English spelling is D-O-N-'-T- -M-E-S-S- -W-I-T-H- -S-U-C-C-E-S-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter D in our English index:

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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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list