get someone's dander up

verb

"get-someone-s-dander-up" is a 19-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“get someone's dander up” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
23
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To anger or annoy someone.

Corpus desk

Index EN-get-someone-s-dander-up · get someone's dander up · English

get someone's dander up · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 23 letters
  • VOW-8 8 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "G" 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 get someone's dander up
PropertyValue
Headwordget someone's dander up
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters23
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “get someone's dander up” in English

get someone's dander upfalls 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

get someone's dander up is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To anger or annoy someone.".

Zero misspellings are on record for get someone's dander up in our 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, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Etymologically, the entry records: US mid-19th century. Uncertain origin. The correct English form is get someone's dander up, spelled G-E-T- -S-O-M-E-O-N-E-'-S- -D-A-N-D-E-R- -U-P.

Definition

  1. 1
    To anger or annoy someone.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how get someone's dander up appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Miss Jessie ain't afeard of the great, wicked, white man heself, when she gets her dander up; […]
  2. […] so it wasn't to be expected that I should not feel disagreeable when the two got their dander up, and went into such a tantrum with each other.

Etymology

US mid-19th century. Uncertain origin.

Synonyms

annoy and Thesaurus:enrage

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 "get someone's dander up"?
"get someone's dander up" is spelled G-E-T- -S-O-M-E-O-N-E-'-S- -D-A-N-D-E-R- -U-P.
What does "get someone's dander up" mean?
As a verb, "get someone's dander up" means: To anger or annoy someone.
What is the origin of the word "get someone's dander up"?
US mid-19th century. Uncertain origin. 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list