not guilty
"not-guilty" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“not guilty” 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) - A formal plea by a defendant of not being culpable for the crime with which the defendant is charged.
Corpus desk
Index EN-not-guilty · not guilty · English
not guilty · 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | not guilty |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “not guilty” in English
Rare enough to double-check
not guilty is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for not guilty, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is not guilty, spelled N-O-T- -G-U-I-L-T-Y.
Definition
- 1A formal plea by a defendant of not being culpable for the crime with which the defendant is charged.
- 2A verdict or formal finding by the legal system that a defendant is not culpable for the crime with which the defendant was charged.
- 3A member of a jury or tribunal supporting acquittal, or a vote cast in support of acquittal.
- 4A person who has been acquitted of a crime.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how not guilty appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
If you do not plead, a plea of not guilty will be entered for you.
My heart beats through five not guilties. Six, seven, nine, eleven. Seventeen not guilties. The prosecutor's lips curl.
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.