God forbid

intj

"god-forbid" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“God forbid” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an interjection. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
10
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - indicating that the occurrence of something is very undesirable

Corpus desk

Index EN-god-forbid · God forbid · English

God forbid · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 10 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.

Key facts for God forbid
PropertyValue
HeadwordGod forbid
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechInterjection
Letters10
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “God forbid” in English

God forbidsits beyond the 100,000 most-frequent English words, in the long tail of technical, archaic, or otherwise rare vocabulary where spelling doubt tends to strike hardest.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

God forbid is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aninterjection. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "indicating that the occurrence of something is very undesirable".

God forbid has no tracked misspelling variants, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, 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 God forbid, spelled G-O-D- -F-O-R-B-I-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    indicating that the occurrence of something is very undesirable

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how God forbid appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. If, God forbid, there's a fire, head for the nearest exit.

Synonyms

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "God forbid"?
"God forbid" is spelled G-O-D- -F-O-R-B-I-D.
What does "God forbid" mean?
As an interjection, "God forbid" means: indicating that the occurrence of something is very undesirable
What language does "God forbid" come from?
"God forbid" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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