good afternoon

phrase

"good-afternoon" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“good afternoon” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a phrase - the kind of word writers most often double-check.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
14
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A greeting or farewell said in the afternoon.

Key facts for good afternoon
PropertyValue
Headwordgood afternoon
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechPhrase
Letters14
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “good afternoon” sits in English frequency

good afternoon falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

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

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for good afternoon is 14 letters long, classified as a phrase. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A greeting or farewell said in the afternoon.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for good afternoon, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Etymologically, the entry records: Probably a shortening of "I wish you a good afternoon." The correct English form is good afternoon, spelled G-O-O-D- -A-F-T-E-R-N-O-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    A greeting or farewell said in the afternoon.

Etymology

Probably a shortening of "I wish you a good afternoon."

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 "good afternoon"?
"good afternoon" is spelled G-O-O-D- -A-F-T-E-R-N-O-O-N.
What does "good afternoon" mean?
As a phrase, "good afternoon" means: A greeting or farewell said in the afternoon.
What is the origin of the word "good afternoon"?
Probably a shortening of "I wish you a good afternoon." See the full etymology section above for more details.
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.

Using “good afternoon”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is G-O-O-D- -A-F-T-E-R-N-O-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list