shadow
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
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6 characters
Language
English
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "shadow", 6-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "shadow" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "shadow" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
shadow is aEnglishnoun. It means: A dark image projected onto a surface where light (or other radiation) is blocked by the shade of an object. Pronounced /ˈʃædəʊ/. It ranks #3,395 in English word frequency. Often confused with show and shaw.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | shadow |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈʃædəʊ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #3,395 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 13 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for shadow is 6 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈʃædəʊ/. Corpus data places it at rank #3,395 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 15 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 9 documented wrong-spelling variants for shadow, with forms such as "hsadow", "sahdow", and "shaddow". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 13 confusable-pair relationships, "show", "shaw", "shady", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English schadowe, schadewe, schadwe (also schade > shade), from Old English sċeaduwe, sċeadwe, oblique form of sċeadu (“shadow, shade; darkness; protection”), from Proto-West Germanic *skadu, from Proto-Germanic *skadwaz (“shade, shadow”), from … Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is shadow, spelled S-H-A-D-O-W, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A dark image projected onto a surface where light (or other radiation) is blocked by the shade of an object.
- 2Relative darkness, especially as caused by the interruption of light; gloom; obscurity.
- 3An area protected by an obstacle (likened to an object blocking out sunlight).
- 4A reflected image, as in a mirror or in water.
- 5That which looms as though a shadow.
- 6A small degree; a shade.
- 7An imperfect and faint representation.
- 8A trainee, assigned to work with an experienced officer.
- 9One who secretly or furtively follows another.
- 10An inseparable companion.
- 11A drop shadow effect applied to lettering in word processors etc.
- 12An influence, especially a pervasive or a negative one.
- 13A spirit; a ghost; a shade.
- 14An uninvited guest accompanying one who was invited.
- 15An unconscious aspect of the personality.
Etymology
From Middle English schadowe, schadewe, schadwe (also schade > shade), from Old English sċeaduwe, sċeadwe, oblique form of sċeadu (“shadow, shade; darkness; protection”), from Proto-West Germanic *skadu, from Proto-Germanic *skadwaz (“shade, shadow”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱeh₃- (“darkness”). Cognates Cognate with Scots shedda (“shadow”), Saterland Frisian Skaad, Skade (“shade, shadow”), West Frisian skaad, skâd (“shade, shadow”), Central Franconian and Limburgish Schatte (“shadow”), Dutch schade, schaduw (“shadow”), German Schatten (“shade, shadow”), German Low German Scharr, Scharre (“shade, shadow”), Luxembourgish Schiet (“shade, shadow”), Vilamovian siota (“shadow”), Yiddish שאָטן (shotn, “shadow”), Faroese skadda (“thick wet mountain fog”), Icelandic skodda, skoddi (“shadow”), Norwegian Bokmål skodde (“fog, mist”), Norwegian Nynorsk skodde, skåddj, skåidd (“fog; ice fog”), Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌳𐌿𐍃 (skadus, “shadow”); also Breton skeud (“shadow; reflection; ghost”), Cornish skeus (“shadow; reflection”), Irish scáth (“shadow”), Manx scaa, skæ (“shield; shade, shadow”), Scottish Gaelic sgàth (“shade, shadow”), Latin obscurus (“dark, dusky, shadowy”), Ancient Greek σκότος (skótos, “darkness, gloom”) (whence English scoto-), Belarusian сівы́ (sivý, “grey”), Czech and Slovak sivý (“grey”), Macedonian осој (osoj, “shady place”), Polish siwy (“grey”), Russian си́вый (sívyj, “grey”), Serbo-Croatian сив, siv (“grey”), Slovene osoja (“shady place”), Ukrainian си́вий (sývyj, “grey”), Armenian սեաւ (seaw), սեւ (sew, “black”), Ossetian сау (saw, “black”), Persian سه (sah), سیه (siyah), سیاه (siyâh, “black”), Sanskrit श्याम (śyāma, “black”), श्याव (śyāva, “dark”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: hsadow,sahdow,shaddow,shadoww,shadwo,shaodw,shdaow,shhadow,sshadow
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for shadow
Misspelling Variants of "shadow"
Frequency rank: #3,395 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter S in our English index: