sell down the river
"sell-down-the-river" is a 16-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sell down the river” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 19
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To betray, especially in a manner which causes serious difficulty for the one betrayed.
Corpus desk
Index EN-sell-down-the-river · sell down the river · English
sell down the river · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 19 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 | sell down the river |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 19 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “sell down the river” in English
Rare enough to double-check
sell down the river is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To betray, especially in a manner which causes serious difficulty for the one betrayed.".
sell down the river doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: Probably from the practice in the U.S., prior to the American Civil War, of trading in slaves who were transported via the Mississippi River: :* Mark Twain (1885), chapter 42, in Huckleberry Finn: “"[H]e ain't no slave. . . . Old Miss Watson died two months… The correct English form is sell down the river, spelled S-E-L-L- -D-O-W-N- -T-H-E- -R-I-V-E-R.
Definition
- 1To betray, especially in a manner which causes serious difficulty for the one betrayed.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how sell down the river appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
[T]he Prime Minister was listened to with respect when he replied to Opposition hints that Ethiopia was being sold down the river because Britain was afraid she or her ships might suddenly be attacked by Italian airmen.
Somebody told me, I know where to go Somebody showed me, I was last to know Sell me down the river Sell me down the river Sell me down the river Sell me down the river What I wanted is what we wanted What we wanted is what she wanted
Etymology
Probably from the practice in the U.S., prior to the American Civil War, of trading in slaves who were transported via the Mississippi River: :* Mark Twain (1885), chapter 42, in Huckleberry Finn: “"[H]e ain't no slave. . . . Old Miss Watson died two months ago, and she was ashamed she ever was going to sell him down the river, and said so; and she set him free in her will."” :* Colin Woodard (2011), chapter 18, in American nations: "The least fortunate wound up on the sugar plantations of southern Louisiana and Mississippi, where it was sometimes profitable to work one’s slaves to death. Being “sold down the river” originally referred to slaves being sold by Appalachian people in Kentucky and Tennessee to downriver plantation owners in the Deep South.”
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.