misdeed
/mɪsˈdiːd/
"misdeed" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“misdeed” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - That which was done that should not have been, ranging from any sin or moral offense to various degrees of crime.
Corpus desk
Index EN-misdeed · misdeed · English
misdeed · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "M" 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 | misdeed |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /mɪsˈdiːd/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “misdeed” in English
Rare enough to double-check
misdeed is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /mɪsˈdiːd/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "That which was done that should not have been, ranging from any sin or moral offense to various degrees of crime.".
No misspelling variants are generated for misdeed in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English misdede, from Old English misdǣd (“misdeed”), from Proto-West Germanic *missadādi, from Proto-Germanic *missadēdiz (“misdeed”); equivalent to mis- + deed. Cognate with Scots misded (“misdeed”), West Frisian misdied (“misdeed”), Dutch mis… The correct English form is misdeed, spelled M-I-S-D-E-E-D.
Definition
- 1That which was done that should not have been, ranging from any sin or moral offense to various degrees of crime.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how misdeed appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The petty misdeeds of his youth came back to haunt him when he ran for political office and his character was smeared.
These [putting feet on seats and leaving rubbish behind] are officially among the worst habits revealed by staff working on Northern's trains and at stations. Other bugbears include playing music through loudspeakers, not giving way to passengers getting off the train and actually illegal activities such as fare evasion and vaping in enclosed spaces. The…
Etymology
From Middle English misdede, from Old English misdǣd (“misdeed”), from Proto-West Germanic *missadādi, from Proto-Germanic *missadēdiz (“misdeed”); equivalent to mis- + deed. Cognate with Scots misded (“misdeed”), West Frisian misdied (“misdeed”), Dutch misdaad (“misdeed”), German Missetat (“misdeed”), Swedish missdåd (“misdeed”), Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐍃𐍃𐌰𐌳𐌴𐌸𐍃 (missadēþs, “misdeed”).
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.