first and last
"first-and-last" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“first and last” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 14
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - only
Corpus desk
Index EN-first-and-last · first and last · English
first and last · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 14 letters
- VOW-3 3 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 | first and last |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 14 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “first and last” in English
Rare enough to double-check
first and last is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "only".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for first and last, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is first and last, spelled F-I-R-S-T- -A-N-D- -L-A-S-T.
Definition
- 1only
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how first and last appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
This is the first and last time I'm doing this.
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.