nick off

verb

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

The verdict

“nick off” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
8
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To leave, especially in a hurry.

Corpus desk

Index EN-nick-off · nick off · English

nick off · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "N" 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.

Key facts for nick off
PropertyValue
Headwordnick off
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters8
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “nick off” in English

nick offranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

nick off is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To leave, especially in a hurry.".

Zero misspellings are on record for nick off in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is nick off, spelled N-I-C-K- -O-F-F.

Definition

  1. 1
    To leave, especially in a hurry.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how nick off appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. ‘I got somethin ta tell ya. Young Trilby's knicked off.’
  2. I'm in for the strap tomorrow anyway when Dickie sees my sums. Got to nick off now.

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "nick off"?
"nick off" is spelled N-I-C-K- -O-F-F.
What does "nick off" mean?
As a verb, "nick off" means: To leave, especially in a hurry.
What language does "nick off" come from?
"nick off" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list