footless

adj

"footless" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“footless” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. 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) - Without feet.

Corpus desk

Index EN-footless · footless · English

footless · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 8 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.

Key facts for footless
PropertyValue
Headwordfootless
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters8
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “footless” in English

footlessranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

footless is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for footless, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. 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: From Middle English fotles, from Old English *fōtlēas (only found as fēþelēas (“footless”)), from Proto-Germanic *fōtalausaz (“footless”), equivalent to foot + -less. Cognate with Dutch voetloos, German fußlos, Swedish fotlös, Icelandic fótalaus (“footless,… The correct English form is footless, spelled F-O-O-T-L-E-S-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Without feet.
  2. 2
    Clumsy or inept.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how footless appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The snake is a footless creature.

Etymology

From Middle English fotles, from Old English *fōtlēas (only found as fēþelēas (“footless”)), from Proto-Germanic *fōtalausaz (“footless”), equivalent to foot + -less. Cognate with Dutch voetloos, German fußlos, Swedish fotlös, Icelandic fótalaus (“footless, legless”).

Synonyms

Antonyms

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 "footless"?
"footless" is spelled F-O-O-T-L-E-S-S.
What does "footless" mean?
As an adjective, "footless" means: Without feet.
What is the origin of the word "footless"?
From Middle English fotles, from Old English *fōtlēas (only found as fēþelēas (“footless”)), from Proto-Germanic *fōtalausaz (“footless”), equivalent to foot + -less. Cognate with Dutch voetloos, German fußlos, Swedish fotlös, Icelandic fótalaus (... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
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Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list