sea change
/ˈsiːˌt͡ʃeɪnd͡ʒ/
"sea-change" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sea change” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A profound transformation; a metamorphosis.
Corpus desk
Index EN-sea-change · sea change · English
sea change · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-4 4 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 | sea change |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsiːˌt͡ʃeɪnd͡ʒ/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “sea change” in English
Rare enough to double-check
sea change is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈsiːˌt͡ʃeɪnd͡ʒ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A profound transformation; a metamorphosis.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for sea change, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Act I, scene ii, of The Tempest (1610–1611) by the English playwright William Shakespeare (1564–1616), spelling modernized: “Full fathom five thy father lies, / Of his bones are coral made: / Those are pearls that were his eyes, / Nothing of him that d… The correct English form is sea change, spelled S-E-A- -C-H-A-N-G-E.
Definition
- 1A profound transformation; a metamorphosis.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how sea change appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Public opinion has undergone a sea change since the 2002 elections.
A few days wrought, as it were, a magical "sea change" in everything around us. The late dark and angry sea, lashed up into roaring and swashing surges, became calm and sunny; the rude winds died away; and gradually a light breeze sprang up directly aft.
Etymology
From Act I, scene ii, of The Tempest (1610–1611) by the English playwright William Shakespeare (1564–1616), spelling modernized: “Full fathom five thy father lies, / Of his bones are coral made: / Those are pearls that were his eyes, / Nothing of him that doth fade, / But doth suffer a sea-change / Into something rich and strange”. The passage refers to how a drowned man’s body lying on the sea bed had been transformed by the sea.
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.