no-brainer

noun

"no-brainer" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“no-brainer” 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 September 3, 2026) - An easy or obvious conclusion, decision, solution, task, etc.; something requiring little or no thought.

Corpus desk

Index EN-no-brainer · no-brainer · English

no-brainer · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 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 no-brainer
PropertyValue
Headwordno-brainer
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters10
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “no-brainer” in English

no-brainerranks 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

no-brainer is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "An easy or obvious conclusion, decision, solution, task, etc.; something requiring little or no thought.".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for no-brainer, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Etymologically, the entry records: From no + brain + -er. The correct English form is no-brainer, spelled N-O---B-R-A-I-N-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    An easy or obvious conclusion, decision, solution, task, etc.; something requiring little or no thought.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how no-brainer appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. If the newer version performs as well for half the cost, the decision is a no-brainer.
  2. "Babcock [an engineering services company with a facility at Rosyth] has new contracts for new frigates there, so opening up the opportunities for rail running in is a no-brainer."

Etymology

From no + brain + -er.

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "no-brainer"?
"no-brainer" is spelled N-O---B-R-A-I-N-E-R.
What does "no-brainer" mean?
As a noun, "no-brainer" means: An easy or obvious conclusion, decision, solution, task, etc.; something requiring little or no thought.
What is the origin of the word "no-brainer"?
From no + brain + -er. 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list