give someone the shits
"give-someone-the-shits" is a 19-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“give someone the shits” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 22
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To annoy or frustrate someone to a great degree.
Corpus desk
Index EN-give-someone-the-shits · give someone the shits · English
give someone the shits · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 22 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | give someone the shits |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 22 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “give someone the shits” in English
Rare enough to double-check
give someone the shits is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for give someone the shits in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct English form is give someone the shits, spelled G-I-V-E- -S-O-M-E-O-N-E- -T-H-E- -S-H-I-T-S.
Definition
- 1To annoy or frustrate someone to a great degree.
- 2To creep someone out; to scare someone.
- 3Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: cause diarrhea.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how give someone the shits appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Can you stop sending me text messages at two in the morning? You're giving me the shits!
‘You give me the shits,’ I stammered, sick with anger. ‘You give me the shits.’
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.