# lowdown

> English word · Noun · frequency rank #45,490

## Definitions
1. inside information, the story or truth.
2. A lowlife, a despicable person.

## Etymology
Compound adjective of low + down in the sense of "humble" recorded in the 1540s, in the sense of "vulgar, far down the social scale" in 1888. Recorded as a noun in 1915 in the slang sense of secret or inside information.

## Easily confused with
- **London** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/london-vs-lowdown)
- **Loudon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/loudon-vs-lowdown)
- **letdown** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/letdown-vs-lowdown)
- **lockdown** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lockdown-vs-lowdown)

## Common misspellings (11)
`llowdown`, `lodwown`, `lowddown`, `lowdonw`, `lowdownn`, `lowdowwn`, `lowdwon`, `lowodwn`, `lowwdown`, `lwodown`, `olwdown`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/lowdown