scare the shit out of

verb

"scare-the-shit-out-of" is a 17-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“scare the shit out of” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
21
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To make someone scared shitless.

Corpus desk

Index EN-scare-the-shit-out-of · scare the shit out of · English

scare the shit out of · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 21 letters
  • VOW-7 7 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.

Key facts for scare the shit out of
PropertyValue
Headwordscare the shit out of
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters21
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “scare the shit out of” in English

scare the shit out offalls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

scare the shit out of is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To make someone scared shitless.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for scare the shit out of, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct English form is scare the shit out of, spelled S-C-A-R-E- -T-H-E- -S-H-I-T- -O-U-T- -O-F.

Definition

  1. 1
    To make someone scared shitless.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how scare the shit out of appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. That scared the shit out of me!
  2. And he says, ‘we'll call you back soon, real soon, so get your ducks in a row’ and that scares the shit out of the corporate muckity-mucks.

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

How do you spell "scare the shit out of"?
"scare the shit out of" is spelled S-C-A-R-E- -T-H-E- -S-H-I-T- -O-U-T- -O-F.
What does "scare the shit out of" mean?
As a verb, "scare the shit out of" means: To make someone scared shitless.
What language does "scare the shit out of" come from?
"scare the shit out of" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list