longhand
/ˈlɒŋˌhænd/
"longhand" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“longhand” is uncommon English (frequency #95,088 among 2,297 “L” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #95,088
- frequency rank, English
- 2,297
- “L” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The written characters used in the common method of writing; opposed to shorthand, or typing or printing; handwriting.
Corpus desk
Index EN-longhand · longhand · English
longhand · rank #95,088 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #95,088
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,297
- PHOTO-FINISH lorn
Nearest frequency peer: lorn (+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 “longhand”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Lilienthal
Lilienthal
4,921 corpus weight
- lodestar
lodestar
4,916 corpus weight
- longhand
longhand
4,913 corpus weight
- lorn
lorn
4,912 corpus weight
- Lothrop
Lothrop
4,911 corpus weight
- lynchpin
lynchpin
4,908 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “longhand” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | longhand |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈlɒŋˌhænd/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #95,088 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “longhand” in English
Rare enough to double-check
longhand is uncommon English at frequency #95,088 among 2,297 “L” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈlɒŋˌhænd/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The written characters used in the common method of writing; opposed to shorthand, or typing or printing; handwriting.".
Zero misspellings are on record for longhand in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From long + hand, by analogy with shorthand. The correct English form is longhand, spelled L-O-N-G-H-A-N-D.
Definition
- 1The written characters used in the common method of writing; opposed to shorthand, or typing or printing; handwriting.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how longhand appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
When, however, in any particular case, he has no assured means of determining the true spelling of the name, he should always quietly interrupt the dictater with the request, " Spell it , please," and then write the name in longhand from the dictater's spelling.
Etymology
From long + hand, by analogy with shorthand.
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 "longhand", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).