henpecked
/ˈhɛnpɛkt/
"henpecked" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“henpecked” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Intimidated or overwhelmed by a nagging or overbearing matriarch, wife, or girlfriend.
Corpus desk
Index EN-henpecked · henpecked · English
henpecked · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "H" 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 | henpecked |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈhɛnpɛkt/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “henpecked” in English
Rare enough to double-check
henpecked is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈhɛnpɛkt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Intimidated or overwhelmed by a nagging or overbearing matriarch, wife, or girlfriend.".
No misspelling variants are generated for henpecked in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. Our dataset records no confusable match here, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From hen + pecked. The correct English form is henpecked, spelled H-E-N-P-E-C-K-E-D.
Definition
- 1Intimidated or overwhelmed by a nagging or overbearing matriarch, wife, or girlfriend.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how henpecked appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
"I noticed that he addressed her as 'My dear,' very genially, without any trace of resentment.... The quickness of the transition made me vaguely ask myself whether he were henpecked,—a shocking conjecture, which I instantly dismissed."
Etymology
From hen + pecked.
Synonyms
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.