heaven forbid
"heaven-forbid" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“heaven forbid” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as an interjection - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 13
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - May heaven forbid it: expresses the desire that something does not happen.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | heaven forbid |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Interjection |
| Letters | 13 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “heaven forbid” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for heaven forbid is 13 letters long, classified as an interjection. 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: "May heaven forbid it: expresses the desire that something does not happen.".
No misspelling variants are generated for heaven forbid in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct English form is heaven forbid, spelled H-E-A-V-E-N- -F-O-R-B-I-D.
Definition
- 1May heaven forbid it: expresses the desire that something does not happen.
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
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Using “heaven forbid”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-E-A-V-E-N- -F-O-R-B-I-D - 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.