editor-in-chief

noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"editor-in-chief" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency English
15
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Alternative spelling of editor in chief.

Key facts for editor-in-chief
PropertyValue
Headwordeditor-in-chief
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters15
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “editor-in-chief” sits in English frequency

editor-in-chief 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

editor-in-chief is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Alternative spelling of editor in chief.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for editor-in-chief, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. 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.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is editor-in-chief, spelled E-D-I-T-O-R---I-N---C-H-I-E-F.

Definition

  1. 1
    Alternative spelling of editor in chief.

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 "editor-in-chief"?
"editor-in-chief" is spelled E-D-I-T-O-R---I-N---C-H-I-E-F.
What does "editor-in-chief" mean?
As a noun, "editor-in-chief" means: Alternative spelling of editor in chief.
What language does "editor-in-chief" come from?
"editor-in-chief" 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 “editor-in-chief”

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

  • The one correct English spelling is E-D-I-T-O-R---I-N---C-H-I-E-F - 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list