no shit, Sherlock

intj

"no-shit-sherlock" is a 14-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“no shit, Sherlock” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an interjection. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
17
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A retort to someone who has just said something obvious.

Corpus desk

Index EN-no-shit-sherlock · no shit, Sherlock · English

no shit, Sherlock · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 17 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 shit, Sherlock
PropertyValue
Headwordno shit, Sherlock
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechInterjection
Letters17
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “no shit, Sherlock” in English

no shit, Sherlockfalls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

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

Rare enough to double-check

no shit, Sherlock is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aninterjection. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A retort to someone who has just said something obvious.".

No misspelling variants are generated for no shit, Sherlock in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: A reference to the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, suggesting that the interlocutor has just made an obvious deduction, which they see as a great one. The correct English form is no shit, Sherlock, spelled N-O- -S-H-I-T-,- -S-H-E-R-L-O-C-K.

Definition

  1. 1
    A retort to someone who has just said something obvious.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Near-synonyms: no shit, you don't say, you think
  2. "No shit, Sherlock. Take another look, see how they come to be bent."

Etymology

A reference to the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, suggesting that the interlocutor has just made an obvious deduction, which they see as a great one.

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 shit, Sherlock"?
"no shit, Sherlock" is spelled N-O- -S-H-I-T-,- -S-H-E-R-L-O-C-K.
What does "no shit, Sherlock" mean?
As an interjection, "no shit, Sherlock" means: A retort to someone who has just said something obvious.
What is the origin of the word "no shit, Sherlock"?
A reference to the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, suggesting that the interlocutor has just made an obvious deduction, which they see as a great one. 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