horsefeathers
"horsefeathers" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“horsefeathers” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an interjection. 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) - Indicates disbelief.
Corpus desk
Index EN-horsefeathers · horsefeathers · English
horsefeathers · 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 "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 | horsefeathers |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Interjection |
| Letters | 13 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “horsefeathers” in English
Rare enough to double-check
horsefeathers is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aninterjection. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Indicates disbelief.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for horsefeathers in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: The "nonsense" sense, a euphemism for horseshit, is horse + feathers, a nonexistent item as only birds have feathers. Compare hen’s teeth. The "horse hair" sense notes the similarity of that hair to bird feathers. Regarding the roofing sense, compare feathe… The correct English form is horsefeathers, spelled H-O-R-S-E-F-E-A-T-H-E-R-S.
Definition
- 1Indicates disbelief.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how horsefeathers appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Horsefeathers! You knew it was a bad idea and now you're just making excuses about it.
Etymology
The "nonsense" sense, a euphemism for horseshit, is horse + feathers, a nonexistent item as only birds have feathers. Compare hen’s teeth. The "horse hair" sense notes the similarity of that hair to bird feathers. Regarding the roofing sense, compare feathering strip and horsefeathers.
Synonyms
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.