pecking order
"pecking-order" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pecking order” 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
- 13
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The natural ranking of social status and dominance occurring in a group of birds.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pecking order |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 13 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pecking order” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for pecking order is 13 letters long, classified as a noun. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Zero misspellings are on record for pecking order in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: Calque of German Hackordnung. The correct English form is pecking order, spelled P-E-C-K-I-N-G- -O-R-D-E-R.
Definition
- 1The natural ranking of social status and dominance occurring in a group of birds.
- 2The usually informal hierarchy of authority, command, or social status, as determined by the especially natural propensity for domination of different members of a specific group over each other, such as older brothers and sisters over their younger siblings.
Etymology
Calque of German Hackordnung.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “pecking order”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-E-C-K-I-N-G- -O-R-D-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- 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.