night soil
"night-soil" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“night soil” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Human faeces.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | night soil |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “night soil” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
night soil is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Human faeces.".
night soil doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: At least notionally because such soil was removed at night by nightmen, and because chamberpots were needed especially at night (when one, in one's nightgown, might be less disposed to leave the house for the outhouse); but the general taboo around human ex… The correct English form is night soil, spelled N-I-G-H-T- -S-O-I-L.
Definition
- 1Human faeces.
Etymology
At least notionally because such soil was removed at night by nightmen, and because chamberpots were needed especially at night (when one, in one's nightgown, might be less disposed to leave the house for the outhouse); but the general taboo around human excrement encourages euphemism, and any word in the allusive range of the night–dark–black–bad archetypes might serve as well as another for the purpose; thus, compare blackwater.
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
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Using “night soil”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is N-I-G-H-T- -S-O-I-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.