mooning

noun

"mooning" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“mooning” is uncommon English (frequency #76,136 among 36,575 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#76,136
frequency rank, English
36,575
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The act of showing one's buttocks.

Key facts for mooning
PropertyValue
Headwordmooning
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters7
Frequency rank#76,136
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “mooning” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). mooning lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

mooning is uncommon English at frequency #76,136 among 36,575 “M” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The act of showing one's buttocks.".

No generated misspelling entries exist for mooning in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Etymologically, the entry records: The usage of "mooning" to refer to the act reflected the use of "moon" as a metaphor for "the buttocks" since 1743. It was popularised from American student slang in the 1960s. The correct English form is mooning, spelled M-O-O-N-I-N-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    The act of showing one's buttocks.

Etymology

The usage of "mooning" to refer to the act reflected the use of "moon" as a metaphor for "the buttocks" since 1743. It was popularised from American student slang in the 1960s.

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); 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

How do you spell "mooning"?
"mooning" is spelled M-O-O-N-I-N-G.
What does "mooning" mean?
As a noun, "mooning" means: The act of showing one's buttocks.
What is the origin of the word "mooning"?
The usage of "mooning" to refer to the act reflected the use of "moon" as a metaphor for "the buttocks" since 1743. It was popularised from American student slang in the 1960s. 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 “mooning”

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

  • The one correct English spelling is M-O-O-N-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words

Other uncommon English words near this rank

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