go downhill
/ɡɐʉ dɐʉnˈhɪɫ/
"go-downhill" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“go downhill” 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 worsen or degenerate.
Corpus desk
Index EN-go-downhill · go downhill · English
go downhill · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-3 3 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 downhill |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ɡɐʉ dɐʉnˈhɪɫ/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “go downhill” in English
Rare enough to double-check
go downhill is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed /ɡɐʉ dɐʉnˈhɪɫ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To worsen or degenerate.".
go downhill doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct English form is go downhill, spelled G-O- -D-O-W-N-H-I-L-L.
Definition
- 1To worsen or degenerate.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how go downhill appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
I usually run fast enough, but my speed goes downhill when I don't sleep enough.
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.