footsie

/ˈfʊtsi/

//ˈfʊtsi// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"footsie" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“footsie” is uncommon English (frequency #82,307 among 2,507 “F” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#82,307
frequency rank, English
2,507
“F” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A flirting game where two people touch their feet together, under a table or otherwise concealed, as a romantic prelude.

Corpus desk

Index EN-footsie · footsie · English

footsie · rank #82,307 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #82,307
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,507
  • PHOTO-FINISH footmen

Nearest frequency peer: footmen (-1 rank slots)

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.

Long-tail ranks near “footsie”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “footsie” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for footsie
PropertyValue
Headwordfootsie
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈfʊtsi/
Letters7
Frequency rank#82,307
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “footsie” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).footsiefalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “footmen” (#82,306), “forebrain” (#82,308), “framer” (#82,311). Among 2,507 “F” headwords, “footsie” is #82,307. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

footsie is uncommon English at frequency #82,307 among 2,507 “F” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈfʊtsi/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for footsie, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From foot + -sie. The correct English form is footsie, spelled F-O-O-T-S-I-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A flirting game where two people touch their feet together, under a table or otherwise concealed, as a romantic prelude.
  2. 2
    A foot.
  3. 3
    A selfie (self-taken photograph) of one's feet.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Play “footsie” with him while dining out together.
  2. The only downside to this is that you can’t play footsie. The table gets in the way. You'll have to come up with something fresh if you want to invite that wonderful person to finish the evening at your side for a stroll along the banks of the Seine.

Etymology

From foot + -sie.

This word in other languages

hacer piececitos(Español)faire du pied(Français)Füßeln(Deutsch)

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

How do you spell "footsie"?
"footsie" is spelled F-O-O-T-S-I-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈfʊtsi/.
What does "footsie" mean?
As a noun, "footsie" means: A flirting game where two people touch their feet together, under a table or otherwise concealed, as a romantic prelude.
How do you pronounce "footsie"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "footsie" is /ˈfʊtsi/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "footsie"?
From foot + -sie. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "footsie", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

footmen#82,306Frelimo#82,314garlick#82,325Feltham#82,288

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list