pain in the arse
/ˈpeɪn ɪn ði ˌɑːs/
"pain-in-the-arse" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pain in the arse” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 16
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Someone or something that is annoying or frustrating.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pain in the arse |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpeɪn ɪn ði ˌɑːs/ |
| Letters | 16 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pain in the arse” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for pain in the arse is 16 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈpeɪn ɪn ði ˌɑːs/. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Someone or something that is annoying or frustrating.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for pain in the arse, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is pain in the arse, spelled P-A-I-N- -I-N- -T-H-E- -A-R-S-E.
Definition
- 1Someone or something that is annoying or frustrating.
Synonyms
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
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Using “pain in the arse”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-A-I-N- -I-N- -T-H-E- -A-R-S-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈpeɪn ɪn ði ˌɑːs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.