good-by
"good-by" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“good-by” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an interjection. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Dated form of goodbye.
Corpus desk
Index EN-good-by · good-by · English
good-by · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 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 | good-by |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Interjection |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “good-by” in English
Rare enough to double-check
good-by is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aninterjection. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Dated form of goodbye.".
No misspelling variants are generated for good-by in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is good-by, spelled G-O-O-D---B-Y.
Definition
- 1Dated form of goodbye.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how good-by appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
“Good-by, then,” said Phœbe, frankly. “I do not mean to be angry a great while, and should be sorry to have you think so. There has Cousin Hepzibah been standing in the shadow of the door-way, this quarter of an hour past! She thinks I stay too long in the damp garden. So, good-night, and good-by!”
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.