Jim Crow law
"jim-crow-law" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Jim Crow law” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any law that racially segregated public facilities and which was enacted in Southern and border states in the United States between 1876 and 1965.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Jim Crow law |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Jim Crow law” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
Jim Crow law is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Any law that racially segregated public facilities and which was enacted in Southern and border states in the United States between 1876 and 1965.".
Jim Crow law doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From the song Jump Jim Crow (c. 1830) which mockingly portrayed African-Americans. It became a generic term for African-Americans in the early- to mid-19th century. The correct English form is Jim Crow law, spelled J-I-M- -C-R-O-W- -L-A-W.
Definition
- 1Any law that racially segregated public facilities and which was enacted in Southern and border states in the United States between 1876 and 1965.
Etymology
From the song Jump Jim Crow (c. 1830) which mockingly portrayed African-Americans. It became a generic term for African-Americans in the early- to mid-19th century.
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 “Jim Crow law”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is J-I-M- -C-R-O-W- -L-A-W - 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.