facepalm
/ˈfeɪsˌpɑː(l)m/
"facepalm" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“facepalm” is uncommon English (frequency #51,696 among 18,613 “F” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #51,696
- frequency rank, English
- 18,613
- “F” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A gesture of bringing one or both palms to the face, with various interpretations including exasperation, chagrin, frustration, embarrassment (one's own or vicarious), etc.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | facepalm |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈfeɪsˌpɑː(l)m/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #51,696 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “facepalm” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
facepalm is uncommon English at frequency #51,696 among 18,613 “F” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈfeɪsˌpɑː(l)m/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A gesture of bringing one or both palms to the face, with various interpretations including exasperation, chagrin, frustration, embarrassment (one's own or vicarious), etc.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for facepalm, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From face + palm. Attested since at least 2001. The correct English form is facepalm, spelled F-A-C-E-P-A-L-M.
Definition
- 1A gesture of bringing one or both palms to the face, with various interpretations including exasperation, chagrin, frustration, embarrassment (one's own or vicarious), etc.
Etymology
From face + palm. Attested since at least 2001.
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); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “facepalm”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-A-C-E-P-A-L-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈfeɪsˌpɑː(l)m/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.