sherm
/ʃɜː(ɹ)m/
"sherm" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sherm” is uncommon English (frequency #85,767 among 54,294 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #85,767
- frequency rank, English
- 54,294
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The drug phencyclidine (PCP).
Corpus desk
Index EN-sherm · sherm · English
sherm · rank #85,767 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #85,767
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 54,294
- PHOTO-FINISH Shelagh
Nearest frequency peer: Shelagh (-1 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 “sherm”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- sexualize
sexualize
14,238 corpus weight
- shambling
shambling
14,237 corpus weight
- shanker
shanker
14,236 corpus weight
- Shelagh
Shelagh
14,235 corpus weight
- sherm
sherm
14,234 corpus weight
- shopaholic
shopaholic
14,230 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “sherm” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | sherm |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ʃɜː(ɹ)m/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #85,767 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “sherm” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
sherm is uncommon English at frequency #85,767 among 54,294 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ʃɜː(ɹ)m/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
sherm has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Nat Sherman, a cigarette brand and former tobacco store in New York City, which used to be the most popular brand to dip in PCP, because unlike most other cigarettes, they did not fall apart when wet. The correct English form is sherm, spelled S-H-E-R-M.
Definition
- 1The drug phencyclidine (PCP).
- 2A cigarette soaked in PCP.
- 3A degenerate; a person not worthy of respect.
Etymology
From Nat Sherman, a cigarette brand and former tobacco store in New York City, which used to be the most popular brand to dip in PCP, because unlike most other cigarettes, they did not fall apart when wet.
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
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "sherm", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
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.