live wire
/ˈlaɪv ˈwaɪə(ɹ)/
"live-wire" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“live wire” 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) - An electrical wire through which there is a flow of electrical current.
Corpus desk
Index EN-live-wire · live wire · English
live wire · 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | live wire |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈlaɪv ˈwaɪə(ɹ)/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “live wire” in English
Rare enough to double-check
live wire is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈlaɪv ˈwaɪə(ɹ)/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
live wire doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct English form is live wire, spelled L-I-V-E- -W-I-R-E.
Definition
- 1An electrical wire through which there is a flow of electrical current.
- 2An especially energetic, alert, or vivacious person.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how live wire appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Two boys got electrocuted when a live wire fell on the auto-rickshaw in which they were sitting.
With his thin, eager face and darting hands he was more than a live wire - he was a whole bundle of live wires.
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.