self-employment

noun

"self-employment" is a 14-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“self-employment” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
15
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The act or practice of working for oneself, such as being an independent contractor.

Key facts for self-employment
PropertyValue
Headwordself-employment
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters15
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “self-employment” sits in English frequency

self-employment falls 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

self-employment is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The act or practice of working for oneself, such as being an independent contractor.".

No generated misspelling entries exist for self-employment in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Etymologically, the entry records: From self- + employment. The correct English form is self-employment, spelled S-E-L-F---E-M-P-L-O-Y-M-E-N-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    The act or practice of working for oneself, such as being an independent contractor.

Etymology

From self- + employment.

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

How do you spell "self-employment"?
"self-employment" is spelled S-E-L-F---E-M-P-L-O-Y-M-E-N-T.
What does "self-employment" mean?
As a noun, "self-employment" means: The act or practice of working for oneself, such as being an independent contractor.
What is the origin of the word "self-employment"?
From self- + employment. See the full etymology section above for more details.
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.

Using “self-employment”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is S-E-L-F---E-M-P-L-O-Y-M-E-N-T - 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list