safe and sound
"safe-and-sound" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“safe and sound” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. 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) - Having come to no harm, especially after being exposed to danger.
Corpus desk
Index EN-safe-and-sound · safe and sound · English
safe and sound · 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 "S" 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 | safe and sound |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 14 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “safe and sound” in English
Rare enough to double-check
safe and sound is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Having come to no harm, especially after being exposed to danger.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for safe and sound, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: Conjunction of safe (“not in danger”) and sound (“intact, healthy”). Compare with Old French sauf et sain. The correct English form is safe and sound, spelled S-A-F-E- -A-N-D- -S-O-U-N-D.
Definition
- 1Having come to no harm, especially after being exposed to danger.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how safe and sound appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Come to the Centaur, fetch our ſtuffe from thence: I long that we were ſafe and ſound aboord.
Etymology
Conjunction of safe (“not in danger”) and sound (“intact, healthy”). Compare with Old French sauf et sain.
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.