shand

noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"shand" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“shand” is uncommon English (frequency #55,731 among 54,294 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#55,731
frequency rank, English
54,294
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Shame; scandal; disgrace.

Corpus desk

Index EN-shand · shand · English

shand · rank #55,731 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #55,731
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 54,294
  • PHOTO-FINISH shew

Nearest frequency peer: shew (+2 rank slots)

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.

Frequency neighbourhood for “shand”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “shand” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of May 6, 2026
Key facts for shand
PropertyValue
Headwordshand
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters5
Frequency rank#55,731
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “shand” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). shand lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

shand is uncommon English at frequency #55,731 among 54,294 “S” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for shand, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English shande, schande, schonde, from Old English sċeand, sċand (“shame, disgrace, infamy”), from Proto-West Germanic *skandu, from Proto-Germanic *skandō (“shame, disgrace”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱem- (“to cover, hide, conceal”). Cogna… The correct English form is shand, spelled S-H-A-N-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    Shame; scandal; disgrace.
  2. 2
    Base coin; one with mixed metals.

Etymology

From Middle English shande, schande, schonde, from Old English sċeand, sċand (“shame, disgrace, infamy”), from Proto-West Germanic *skandu, from Proto-Germanic *skandō (“shame, disgrace”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱem- (“to cover, hide, conceal”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Skounde (“shame, disgrace”), West Frisian skande (“disgrace, shame, humiliation”), Dutch schande (“shame, disgrace, reproach, dishonour, scandal”), German Schande (“shame, disgrace, ignominity, dishonour”), Luxembourgish Schan (“shame”), Yiddish שאַנד (shand, “shame”), Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌰 (skanda, “shame, disgrace”). Related to shame, shend. Doublet of shanda and shonda. Compare typologically the opposite direction meaning shift Proto-Slavic *pozorъ < *zьrěti (“to observe”).

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "shand"?
"shand" is spelled S-H-A-N-D.
What does "shand" mean?
As a noun, "shand" means: Shame; scandal; disgrace.
What is the origin of the word "shand"?
From Middle English shande, schande, schonde, from Old English sċeand, sċand (“shame, disgrace, infamy”), from Proto-West Germanic *skandu, from Proto-Germanic *skandō (“shame, disgrace”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱem- (“to cover, hide, concea... 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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "shand", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

skied#55,741slyly#55,744SAARC#55,711Raghu#55,674
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