red letter day
"red-letter-day" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“red letter day” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. 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) - A day marked in red on calendars; a church feast day.
Corpus desk
Index EN-red-letter-day · red letter day · English
red letter day · 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 "R" 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 | red letter day |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 14 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “red letter day” in English
Rare enough to double-check
red letter day is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
red letter day doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: An allusion to the practice, dating to classical antiquity, of marking important days in red on calendars. The correct English form is red letter day, spelled R-E-D- -L-E-T-T-E-R- -D-A-Y.
Definition
- 1A day marked in red on calendars; a church feast day.
- 2A particularly significant day; a day of personal or sectarian celebration.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how red letter day appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The only red-letter day occurring in July, is the twenty-fifth, called St James's Day.
But the monsters who interrupt men in the middle of a sentence are to be found everywhere; and they are always practising. Red-letter days or black-letter days, festival or fast, makes no difference to them.
Etymology
An allusion to the practice, dating to classical antiquity, of marking important days in red on calendars.
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.