shoot from the hip
"shoot-from-the-hip" is a 15-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“shoot from the hip” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a verb - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 18
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To discharge a firearm while it is held near the hip, without taking time to aim via the gunsights.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | shoot from the hip |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 18 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “shoot from the hip” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for shoot from the hip is 18 letters long, classified as a verb. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
shoot from the hip has no tracked misspelling variants, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct English form is shoot from the hip, spelled S-H-O-O-T- -F-R-O-M- -T-H-E- -H-I-P.
Definition
- 1To discharge a firearm while it is held near the hip, without taking time to aim via the gunsights.
- 2To speak or act quickly based on first impressions, without carefully studying the background information, wider context, etc.
Synonyms
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “shoot from the hip”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-H-O-O-T- -F-R-O-M- -T-H-E- -H-I-P - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.