en dash
"en-dash" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“en dash” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. 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) - The punctuation mark –, which is used, for instance, to indicate a range.
Corpus desk
Index EN-en-dash · en dash · English
en dash · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "E" 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 | en dash |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “en dash” in English
Rare enough to double-check
en dash is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The punctuation mark –, which is used, for instance, to indicate a range.".
en dash has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Named for its width, which is equal to the width of the letter n or N, or approximately half the width of an em dash. The correct English form is en dash, spelled E-N- -D-A-S-H.
Definition
- 1The punctuation mark –, which is used, for instance, to indicate a range.
Etymology
Named for its width, which is equal to the width of the letter n or N, or approximately half the width of an em dash.
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.