eat humble pie

verb

"eat-humble-pie" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“eat humble pie” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
14
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To admit one's faults; to make a humiliating apology.

Key facts for eat humble pie
PropertyValue
Headwordeat humble pie
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters14
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “eat humble pie” sits in English frequency

eat humble pie 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

eat humble pie is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To admit one's faults; to make a humiliating apology.".

No generated misspelling entries exist for eat humble pie in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. 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: The spoken phrase a numble pie (a pie made from the entrails of a deer) was rebracketed as an umble pie, then written as (a) humble pie, after which the figurative meaning developed. The correct English form is eat humble pie, spelled E-A-T- -H-U-M-B-L-E- -P-I-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    To admit one's faults; to make a humiliating apology.

Etymology

The spoken phrase a numble pie (a pie made from the entrails of a deer) was rebracketed as an umble pie, then written as (a) humble pie, after which the figurative meaning developed.

This word in other languages

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 "eat humble pie"?
"eat humble pie" is spelled E-A-T- -H-U-M-B-L-E- -P-I-E.
What does "eat humble pie" mean?
As a verb, "eat humble pie" means: To admit one's faults; to make a humiliating apology.
What is the origin of the word "eat humble pie"?
The spoken phrase a numble pie (a pie made from the entrails of a deer) was rebracketed as an umble pie, then written as (a) humble pie, after which the figurative meaning developed. 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 “eat humble pie”

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

  • The one correct English spelling is E-A-T- -H-U-M-B-L-E- -P-I-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