go belly-up
"go-belly-up" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“go belly-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
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To die.
Corpus desk
Index EN-go-belly-up · go belly-up · English
go belly-up · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-4 4 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 | go belly-up |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “go belly-up” in English
Rare enough to double-check
go belly-up is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for go belly-up in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From the tendency of fish to float upside down when they die. The correct English form is go belly-up, spelled G-O- -B-E-L-L-Y---U-P.
Definition
- 1To die.
- 2To fail or fold; especially, to be closed or shut down, or go out of business.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how go belly-up appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
I was sorry to hear that my favorite little restaurant went belly-up.
Etymology
From the tendency of fish to float upside down when they die.
Synonyms
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.