outgroup

noun

"outgroup" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“outgroup” is uncommon English (frequency #72,624 among 15,494 “O” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#72,624
frequency rank, English
15,494
“O” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The group of people who do not belong to one's own social group.

Key facts for outgroup
PropertyValue
Headwordoutgroup
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters8
Frequency rank#72,624
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “outgroup” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). outgroup lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

outgroup is uncommon English at frequency #72,624 among 15,494 “O” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

outgroup has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From out- + group. The correct English form is outgroup, spelled O-U-T-G-R-O-U-P.

Definition

  1. 1
    The group of people who do not belong to one's own social group.
  2. 2
    In cladistics, all the taxa included in a study that do not belong to the ingroup that is of immediate interest.

Etymology

From out- + group.

Antonyms

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "outgroup"?
"outgroup" is spelled O-U-T-G-R-O-U-P.
What does "outgroup" mean?
As a noun, "outgroup" means: The group of people who do not belong to one's own social group.
What is the origin of the word "outgroup"?
From out- + group. 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.

Using “outgroup”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is O-U-T-G-R-O-U-P - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words

Other uncommon English words near this rank

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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list