graybar hotel
"graybar-hotel" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“graybar hotel” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 13
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Jail, a prison.
Corpus desk
Index EN-graybar-hotel · graybar hotel · English
graybar hotel · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 13 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 | graybar hotel |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 13 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “graybar hotel” in English
Rare enough to double-check
graybar hotel is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Jail, a prison.".
No misspelling variants are generated for graybar hotel in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: Referring to the gray metal bars of a cell. It was originally used to refer to the main jail facility in downtown Los Angeles, California; some inmates who were ashamed of admitting that they were in jail would tell friends and relatives who were out of tow… The correct English form is graybar hotel, spelled G-R-A-Y-B-A-R- -H-O-T-E-L.
Definition
- 1Jail, a prison.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how graybar hotel appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
If you do something like this, I will be sure that you spend a long, long time in the graybar hotel.
Etymology
Referring to the gray metal bars of a cell. It was originally used to refer to the main jail facility in downtown Los Angeles, California; some inmates who were ashamed of admitting that they were in jail would tell friends and relatives who were out of town and that they were staying at the Graybar Hotel. Before it was torn down it was so well known that prisoners actually received mail addressed to the Graybar Hotel in Los Angeles.
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.