line feed

noun

"line-feed" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency English
9
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - On a typewriter, the action of the carriage roller to push the page up one or more lines, often simultaneously with executing a carriage return.

Corpus desk

Index EN-line-feed · line feed · English

line feed · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 9 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.

Key facts for line feed
PropertyValue
Headwordline feed
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters9
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “line feed” in English

line feedfalls 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

line feed is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for line feed, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. 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.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is line feed, spelled L-I-N-E- -F-E-E-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    On a typewriter, the action of the carriage roller to push the page up one or more lines, often simultaneously with executing a carriage return.
  2. 2
    The character (0x0a in ASCII) which advances the paper by one line in a teletype or printer, or moves the cursor to the next line on a display.
  3. 3
    A signal that contains the content about to be broadcast on radio or television.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how line feed appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. It appears that Director Chalmers was the only one who, while reading the final draft, noticed that the wording of one clause required the Post Office to provide a line feed to each station.
  2. Playing a “gig” in Toronto at the time, Lombardo and his boys arrived at RB to do a live line feed to New York for their regular dance-band series on CBS, just at a mement when Baker's one and only amplifier was in full use on CFRB's own air, broadcasting a lucrative locally-sponsored program of recorded music.

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 "line feed"?
"line feed" is spelled L-I-N-E- -F-E-E-D.
What does "line feed" mean?
As a noun, "line feed" means: On a typewriter, the action of the carriage roller to push the page up one or more lines, often simultaneously with executing a carriage return.
What language does "line feed" come from?
"line feed" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list