gaydar
/ˈɡeɪdɑː/
"gaydar" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“gaydar” is uncommon English (frequency #71,526 among 18,276 “G” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #71,526
- frequency rank, English
- 18,276
- “G” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The supposed ability to detect whether or not a person is gay by observing that person's appearance, mannerisms, etc.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | gaydar |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɡeɪdɑː/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #71,526 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “gaydar” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
gaydar is uncommon English at frequency #71,526 among 18,276 “G” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈɡeɪdɑː/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The supposed ability to detect whether or not a person is gay by observing that person's appearance, mannerisms, etc.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for gaydar in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. 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: Blend of gay + radar, equivalent to gay + -dar. The correct English form is gaydar, spelled G-A-Y-D-A-R.
Definition
- 1The supposed ability to detect whether or not a person is gay by observing that person's appearance, mannerisms, etc.
Etymology
Blend of gay + radar, equivalent to gay + -dar.
This word in other languages
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 “gaydar”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is G-A-Y-D-A-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɡeɪdɑː/ (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.