shed a tear
/ˈʃɛdəˈtɪə/
"shed-a-tear" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“shed a tear” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To have a tear released, to cry (from sadness)
Corpus desk
Index EN-shed-a-tear · shed a tear · English
shed a tear · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 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 | shed a tear |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈʃɛdəˈtɪə/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “shed a tear” in English
Rare enough to double-check
shed a tear is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed /ˈʃɛdəˈtɪə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
shed a tear has no tracked misspelling variants, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is shed a tear, spelled S-H-E-D- -A- -T-E-A-R.
Definition
- 1To have a tear released, to cry (from sadness)
- 2To take a dram, or glass of spirits.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how shed a tear appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Now, in coming down here, I journeyed part of the way with a jolly old cock, who shed a tear with me every time the coach stopped […]
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.