over-the-counter
"over-the-counter" is a 14-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“over-the-counter” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 16
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Of medicine and other treatments, legal for sale or distribution without the requirement of a prescription.
Corpus desk
Index EN-over-the-counter · over-the-counter · English
over-the-counter · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 16 letters
- VOW-6 6 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | over-the-counter |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 16 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “over-the-counter” in English
Rare enough to double-check
over-the-counter is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for over-the-counter, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: An attributive form of over the counter. The correct English form is over-the-counter, spelled O-V-E-R---T-H-E---C-O-U-N-T-E-R.
Definition
- 1Of medicine and other treatments, legal for sale or distribution without the requirement of a prescription.
- 2Involving direct interaction between two parties without an intermediary, and denoting any market where items such as stocks or currency are bought and sold by direct arrangement between counterparties, or through a private broker, rather than on a public stock exchange or other exchange.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how over-the-counter appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
over-the-counter drug, over-the-counter medicine
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the oral contraceptive Opill for over-the-counter use, making it the first nonprescription birth control pill in the United States, but it will be months before it’s available.
Etymology
An attributive form of over the counter.
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.