forethought
/ˈfɔː(ɹ)θɔːt/
"forethought" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“forethought” is uncommon English (frequency #54,782 among 18,613 “F” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #54,782
- frequency rank, English
- 18,613
- “F” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Thinking beforehand or in advance, planning; prior or previous consideration.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | forethought |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈfɔː(ɹ)θɔːt/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #54,782 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “forethought” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
forethought is uncommon English at frequency #54,782 among 18,613 “F” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈfɔː(ɹ)θɔːt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for forethought in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English forethouht, forethoght, from Old English *foreþōht (“forethought”); equivalent to fore- + thought. See also forethink. The correct English form is forethought, spelled F-O-R-E-T-H-O-U-G-H-T.
Definition
- 1Thinking beforehand or in advance, planning; prior or previous consideration.
- 2Anticipation.
- 3Provident care; prudence.
Etymology
From Middle English forethouht, forethoght, from Old English *foreþōht (“forethought”); equivalent to fore- + thought. See also forethink.
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 “forethought”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-O-R-E-T-H-O-U-G-H-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈfɔː(ɹ)θɔːt/ (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.