Little Red Riding Hood

/ˈlɪtl̩ ɹɛd ɹaɪ.dɪŋ hʊd/

//ˈlɪtl̩ ɹɛd ɹaɪ.dɪŋ hʊd// name

"little-red-riding-hood" is a 19-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“Little Red Riding Hood” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
22
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A fairy tale about a young girl who walks through the forest to visit her grandmother and encounters the Big Bad Wolf (or another vicious wolf, or werewolf in archaic versions).

Key facts for Little Red Riding Hood
PropertyValue
HeadwordLittle Red Riding Hood
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechProper noun
IPA/ˈlɪtl̩ ɹɛd ɹaɪ.dɪŋ hʊd/
Letters22
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “Little Red Riding Hood” sits in English frequency

Little Red Riding Hood 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

Little Red Riding Hood is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aproper noun, transcribed /ˈlɪtl̩ ɹɛd ɹaɪ.dɪŋ hʊd/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for Little Red Riding Hood, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From little + red + riding hood. The correct English form is Little Red Riding Hood, spelled L-I-T-T-L-E- -R-E-D- -R-I-D-I-N-G- -H-O-O-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    A fairy tale about a young girl who walks through the forest to visit her grandmother and encounters the Big Bad Wolf (or another vicious wolf, or werewolf in archaic versions).
  2. 2
    The girl who is the protagonist and title character in this story.

Etymology

From little + red + riding hood.

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 "Little Red Riding Hood"?
"Little Red Riding Hood" is spelled L-I-T-T-L-E- -R-E-D- -R-I-D-I-N-G- -H-O-O-D. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈlɪtl̩ ɹɛd ɹaɪ.dɪŋ hʊd/.
What does "Little Red Riding Hood" mean?
As a proper noun, "Little Red Riding Hood" means: A fairy tale about a young girl who walks through the forest to visit her grandmother and encounters the Big Bad Wolf (or another vicious wolf, or werewolf in archaic versions).
How do you pronounce "Little Red Riding Hood"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Little Red Riding Hood" is /ˈlɪtl̩ ɹɛd ɹaɪ.dɪŋ hʊd/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "Little Red Riding Hood"?
From little + red + riding hood. See the full etymology section above for more details.
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 “Little Red Riding Hood”

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

  • The one correct English spelling is L-I-T-T-L-E- -R-E-D- -R-I-D-I-N-G- -H-O-O-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /ˈlɪtl̩ ɹɛd ɹaɪ.dɪŋ hʊd/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • 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