life expectancy

noun

"life-expectancy" is a 14-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“life expectancy” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
15
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The amount of time one is expected to live.

Key facts for life expectancy
PropertyValue
Headwordlife expectancy
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters15
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “life expectancy” sits in English frequency

life expectancy falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

life expectancy is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for life expectancy in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct English form is life expectancy, spelled L-I-F-E- -E-X-P-E-C-T-A-N-C-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    The amount of time one is expected to live.
  2. 2
    The amount of time something is expected to last.

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "life expectancy"?
"life expectancy" is spelled L-I-F-E- -E-X-P-E-C-T-A-N-C-Y.
What does "life expectancy" mean?
As a noun, "life expectancy" means: The amount of time one is expected to live.
What language does "life expectancy" come from?
"life expectancy" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “life expectancy”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is L-I-F-E- -E-X-P-E-C-T-A-N-C-Y - 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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list