fend off
"fend-off" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“fend off” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To defend against; to repel with force or effort
Corpus desk
Index EN-fend-off · fend off · English
fend off · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "F" 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 | fend off |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “fend off” in English
Rare enough to double-check
fend off is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for fend off, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: fend + off The correct English form is fend off, spelled F-E-N-D- -O-F-F.
Definition
- 1To defend against; to repel with force or effort
- 2To prevent (a vessel) from running against anything with too much violence.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how fend off appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
They tried citronella to fend off the mosquitos, to no avail.
France spent large portions of the opening half in England territory and despite scoring the pick of the first-half tries - when Menager fended off Jess Breach to finish off a superb backs move - struggled to convert their chances.
Etymology
fend + off
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.