oh my goodness

/əʊ maɪ ˈɡʊdnɛs/

//əʊ maɪ ˈɡʊdnɛs// intj

"oh-my-goodness" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“oh my goodness” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an interjection. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
14
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Alternative form of my goodness.

Corpus desk

Index EN-oh-my-goodness · oh my goodness · English

oh my goodness · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 14 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "O" 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 oh my goodness
PropertyValue
Headwordoh my goodness
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechInterjection
IPA/əʊ maɪ ˈɡʊdnɛs/
Letters14
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “oh my goodness” in English

oh my goodnesssits beyond the 100,000 most-frequent English words, in the long tail of technical, archaic, or otherwise rare vocabulary where spelling doubt tends to strike hardest.

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

Rare enough to double-check

oh my goodness is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aninterjection, transcribed /əʊ maɪ ˈɡʊdnɛs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Alternative form of my goodness.".

oh my goodness doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

No documented word history exists for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct English form is oh my goodness, spelled O-H- -M-Y- -G-O-O-D-N-E-S-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Alternative form of my goodness.

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 "oh my goodness"?
"oh my goodness" is spelled O-H- -M-Y- -G-O-O-D-N-E-S-S. The IPA pronunciation is /əʊ maɪ ˈɡʊdnɛs/.
What does "oh my goodness" mean?
As an interjection, "oh my goodness" means: Alternative form of my goodness.
How do you pronounce "oh my goodness"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "oh my goodness" is /əʊ maɪ ˈɡʊdnɛs/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "oh my goodness" come from?
"oh my goodness" 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