fraidy cat

noun

"fraidy-cat" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“fraidy cat” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
10
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Synonym of scaredy-cat (“coward”).

Corpus desk

Index EN-fraidy-cat · fraidy cat · English

fraidy cat · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 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 fraidy cat
PropertyValue
Headwordfraidy cat
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters10
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “fraidy cat” in English

fraidy catfalls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

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

Rare enough to double-check

fraidy cat is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Synonym of scaredy-cat (“coward”).".

fraidy cat doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is fraidy cat, spelled F-R-A-I-D-Y- -C-A-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Synonym of scaredy-cat (“coward”).

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. MURROW: Do you remember the most severe disciplinary action taken against you when you were a youngster, Mr. President? TRUMAN: Well, I was one of these fraidy cats who usually obeyed the rules and they didn't have to get after me very often.

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 "fraidy cat"?
"fraidy cat" is spelled F-R-A-I-D-Y- -C-A-T.
What does "fraidy cat" mean?
As a noun, "fraidy cat" means: Synonym of scaredy-cat (“coward”).
What language does "fraidy cat" come from?
"fraidy cat" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list