go pear-shaped
/ɡəʊ ˈpɛəʃeɪpt/
"go-pear-shaped" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“go pear-shaped” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 14
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To go awry; to go wrong.
Corpus desk
Index EN-go-pear-shaped · go pear-shaped · English
go pear-shaped · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 14 letters
- VOW-5 5 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 pear-shaped |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ɡəʊ ˈpɛəʃeɪpt/ |
| Letters | 14 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “go pear-shaped” in English
Rare enough to double-check
go pear-shaped is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed /ɡəʊ ˈpɛəʃeɪpt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To go awry; to go wrong.".
go pear-shaped has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: Uncertain; the following etymologies have been suggested: * From the image of a solid rectangle “slipping down” into a pear shape, thus “the bottom drops out”. ** Similar thoughts about the work of either glassblowers or potters involve a theme of the work … The correct English form is go pear-shaped, spelled G-O- -P-E-A-R---S-H-A-P-E-D.
Definition
- 1To go awry; to go wrong.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how go pear-shaped appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
After the third attack run I was letting back down to low level, passing through about 100 feet on the way down, when there were two bangs very close together. The whole aircraft shook and things went "pear-shaped" very quickly after that.
Now the whole world economy seems to be going pear-shaped all at once[…].
Etymology
Uncertain; the following etymologies have been suggested: * From the image of a solid rectangle “slipping down” into a pear shape, thus “the bottom drops out”. ** Similar thoughts about the work of either glassblowers or potters involve a theme of the work trending toward a sagging shape; such speculations may be only folk etymology. * From the image of a balloon or football losing its spherical shape after being punctured. * From an idea that people who shoulder the work — who have the responsibility on their shoulders — may descend into shirking, in which case their broad shoulders diminish as their body becomes pear-shaped. Apparently the term was originally Royal Air Force slang, but came into common use by the 1990s.
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.