lickety-split
"lickety-split" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“lickety-split” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. 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) - Quickly; as fast as possible; in short order.
Corpus desk
Index EN-lickety-split · lickety-split · English
lickety-split · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 13 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "L" 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 | lickety-split |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| Letters | 13 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “lickety-split” in English
Rare enough to double-check
lickety-split is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Quickly; as fast as possible; in short order.".
lickety-split has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: First attested during the 19th century, in the US, equivalent to lickedy + split, perhaps as a reference to the flick or darting of a snake's forked tongue. The forms lickety-cut and licketie are similarly attested; and forms with t are likely due to Scotti… The correct English form is lickety-split, spelled L-I-C-K-E-T-Y---S-P-L-I-T.
Definition
- 1Quickly; as fast as possible; in short order.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how lickety-split appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
At the sound of the starting gun, they were off and running lickety-split.
I need tea right now, lickety-split.
Etymology
First attested during the 19th century, in the US, equivalent to lickedy + split, perhaps as a reference to the flick or darting of a snake's forked tongue. The forms lickety-cut and licketie are similarly attested; and forms with t are likely due to Scottish influence.
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.