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good

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

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Letters

4 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "good", 4-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "good" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "good" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

good is anEnglishadj. It means: Of a person or an animal: Pronounced /ɡʊd/. It ranks #78 in English word frequency. Often confused with got and GOP.

Key facts for good
PropertyValue
Headwordgood
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdj
IPA/ɡʊd/
Letters4
Frequency rank#78
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of good in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for good is 4 letters long, classified as anadj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɡʊd/. Corpus data places it at rank #78 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 29 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 4 documented wrong-spelling variants for good, with forms such as "ggood", "godo", and "goodd". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "got", "GOP", "Guo", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: Inherited from Middle English good, from Old English gōd, from Proto-West Germanic *gōd, from Proto-Germanic *gōdaz (“good”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰedʰ- (“to unite, be associated, suit, fit”). Related to gather and together, but not to god/God. Eclips… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is good, spelled G-O-O-D, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Of a person or an animal:
  2. 2
    Of a person or an animal:
  3. 3
    Of a person or an animal:
  4. 4
    Of a person or an animal:
  5. 5
    Of a person or an animal:
  6. 6
    Of a person or an animal:
  7. 7
    Of a person or an animal:
  8. 8
    Of a capability:
  9. 9
    Of a capability:
  10. 10
    Of a capability:
  11. 11
    Of a property or quality:
  12. 12
    Of a property or quality:
  13. 13
    Of a property or quality:
  14. 14
    Of a property or quality:
  15. 15
    Of a property or quality:
  16. 16
    Of a property or quality:
  17. 17
    Of a property or quality:
  18. 18
    Of a property or quality:
  19. 19
    Of a property or quality:
  20. 20
    Of a property or quality:
  21. 21
    Of a property or quality:
  22. 22
    Of a property or quality:
  23. 23
    Very, extremely. See good and.
  24. 24
    Ready.
  25. 25
    Holy (especially when capitalized) .
  26. 26
    Of a quantity:
  27. 27
    Of a quantity:
  28. 28
    Of a quantity:
  29. 29
    Special, best, favorite.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English good, from Old English gōd, from Proto-West Germanic *gōd, from Proto-Germanic *gōdaz (“good”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰedʰ- (“to unite, be associated, suit, fit”). Related to gather and together, but not to god/God. Eclipsed non-native Middle English bon, bone, boon, boun (“good”) borrowed from Old French bon (“good”), from Latin bonus (“good”). Cognates Cognate with Scots gude, guid (“good”), Yola gayde, gooude, gude (“good”), North Frisian goud, gud, guid, gur, gödj, gööd (“good”), Saterland Frisian goud (“good”), West Frisian goed (“good”), Alemannic German guet (“good”), Bavarian guad (“good”), Central Franconian gut, jot, jott (“good”), Cimbrian guat, guut (“good”), Dutch goed, goei (“good”), Dutch Low Saxon good (“good”), German gut (“good”), Limburgish good, gott (“good”), Low German god, goot, got, gued (“good”), Luxembourgish gutt (“good”), Mòcheno guat (“good”), Vilamovian güt (“good”), Yiddish גוט (gut, “good”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish god (“good”), Elfdalian guoð (“good”), Faroese, Icelandic góður (“good”), Gothic 𐌲𐍉𐌸𐍃 (gōþs, “good”), Vandalic *guths (“good”); also Albanian nge (“chance, leisure, opportunity, time”), Latvian gods (“honor”), Lithuanian guõdas (“nobleness, virtue; glory, honour”), Belarusian го́дны (hódny, “worthy”), Bulgarian го́ден (góden, “fit, suitable”), Czech hodný (“good, kind”), Polish godny, godzien (“dignified, worthy”), Russian го́дный (gódnyj, “fit, well-suited, good for; (coll.) good”), Ukrainian гі́дний (hídnyj, “deserving, worthy”), го́дний (hódnyj, “fit, well-suited, good for; (coll.) good”).

Synonyms

not badall rightsatisfactorydecentwellaccomplishedgoodnessacceptableagreeableamazingas fine as Dick's hatbandawesomebenebodaciousbonabrilliantcommendablecooldandy as candyenjoyableexcellentexceptionalfabulousfantasticfinegoatedgoloptiousgood as wheat in the bingratifyinggreatincrediblelovelymagnificentmarvelousneatniceoutstandingperfectphenomenalpleasantpleasingpositiveradradicalright as rainsatisfyingsolidsplendidstellarstupendoussupersuperbsweetsweet as a nutterrifictubularwickedwonderfulwondrous

Antonyms

badpoorbadevilawfuldetestabledisagreeabledreadfulhorribleterribleunsatisfactory

This word in other languages

Spanish(Español)Portuguese(Português)French(Français)German(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ggood,godo,goodd,ogod

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for good

Misspelling Variants of "good"

ggood5godo4goodd5ogod4
Misspelling Variants of "good"

Frequency rank: #78 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "good"?
"good" is spelled G-O-O-D. The IPA pronunciation is /ɡʊd/.
What does "good" mean?
As an adj, "good" means: Of a person or an animal:
What words are commonly confused with "good"?
"good" is commonly confused with "got", "GOP", "Guo". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "good"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "good" is /ɡʊd/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "good"?
Inherited from Middle English good, from Old English gōd, from Proto-West Germanic *gōd, from Proto-Germanic *gōdaz (“good”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰedʰ- (“to unite, be associated, suit, fit”). Related to gather and together, but not to god/G... See the full etymology section above for more details.
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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.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter G in our English index:

All "G" wordsABCDEFGHIJKL

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.