limey
/ˈlaɪmi/
"limey" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“limey” is uncommon English (frequency #81,511 among 2,297 “L” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #81,511
- frequency rank, English
- 2,297
- “L” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Resembling limes (the fruit); lime-like.
Corpus desk
Index EN-limey · limey · English
limey · rank #81,511 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #81,511
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,297
- PHOTO-FINISH Lilongwe
Nearest frequency peer: Lilongwe (-1 rank slots)
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.
Long-tail ranks near “limey”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- lightman
lightman
18,492 corpus weight
- Lilongwe
Lilongwe
18,491 corpus weight
- limey
limey
18,490 corpus weight
- Lipitor
Lipitor
18,488 corpus weight
- litho
litho
18,487 corpus weight
- logician
logician
18,485 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “limey” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | limey |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈlaɪmi/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #81,511 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “limey” in English
Rare enough to double-check
limey is uncommon English at frequency #81,511 among 2,297 “L” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈlaɪmi/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for limey, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: In adjectival senses, by surface analysis, lime + -y. In the sense of Englishman, reduced from the 19th century term lime-juicer (“a British ship”), from the lime juice British ships carried to ward off scurvy. The correct English form is limey, spelled L-I-M-E-Y.
Definition
- 1Resembling limes (the fruit); lime-like.
- 2Of, or pertaining to, limes (the fruit).
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how limey appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
This drink is full of limey goodness.
Etymology
In adjectival senses, by surface analysis, lime + -y. In the sense of Englishman, reduced from the 19th century term lime-juicer (“a British ship”), from the lime juice British ships carried to ward off scurvy.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "limey", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).