highfalutin
/ˌhaɪ.fəˈlu.tɪn/
"highfalutin" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“highfalutin” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Self-important, pompous; arrogant or egotistical.
Corpus desk
Index EN-highfalutin · highfalutin · English
highfalutin · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-4 4 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 | highfalutin |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˌhaɪ.fəˈlu.tɪn/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “highfalutin” in English
Rare enough to double-check
highfalutin is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˌhaɪ.fəˈlu.tɪn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Self-important, pompous; arrogant or egotistical.".
Zero misspellings are on record for highfalutin in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: Possible an alteration of high-fluting. Another speculation connects the term with high-flighting/-flying. First appears c. 1839 in the Spirit of the Times. The correct English form is highfalutin, spelled H-I-G-H-F-A-L-U-T-I-N.
Definition
- 1Self-important, pompous; arrogant or egotistical.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how highfalutin appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
It's only a matter of time before some highfalutin developer builds a huge hotel and ruins the scenery.
That one Cajun that moved to Austin is too highfalutin to come back to Livingston Parish. He's over there with that mean bread lady!
Etymology
Possible an alteration of high-fluting. Another speculation connects the term with high-flighting/-flying. First appears c. 1839 in the Spirit of the Times.
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.