Shrove Tuesday

noun

"shrove-tuesday" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“Shrove Tuesday” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
14
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The day before the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday.

Corpus desk

Index EN-shrove-tuesday · Shrove Tuesday · English

Shrove Tuesday · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 14 letters
  • VOW-6 6 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.

Key facts for Shrove Tuesday
PropertyValue
HeadwordShrove Tuesday
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters14
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “Shrove Tuesday” in English

Shrove Tuesdaysits beyond the 100,000 most-frequent English words, in the long tail of technical, archaic, or otherwise rare vocabulary where spelling doubt tends to strike hardest.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Shrove Tuesday is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The day before the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday.".

No misspelling variants are generated for Shrove Tuesday in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: The second element is Tuesday; the first element may be a reflex of Old English *scrāf “confession” (related to the modern verb shrive), from the medieval practice of priests hearing confessions on this day. The correct English form is Shrove Tuesday, spelled S-H-R-O-V-E- -T-U-E-S-D-A-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    The day before the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how Shrove Tuesday appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Observe when the Moon is new in February, the next Tuesday after is Shrove-tuesday: but if it change on Tuesday, then the next Tuesday following is Shrove-tuesday
  2. The day appointed for this extraordinary hunting-party was Shrove Tuesday. The Protestants of Paisley, in whose neighbourhood this story may be said to have originated, cannot discern the difference betwixt Shrove Tuesday and any other Tuesday; but if a Roman Catholic Princess, even in our free times, should be invited to a hunting-match on Shrove Tuesday…

Etymology

The second element is Tuesday; the first element may be a reflex of Old English *scrāf “confession” (related to the modern verb shrive), from the medieval practice of priests hearing confessions on this day.

Synonyms

Mardi GrasFat TuesdayPancake DayPancake TuesdayCarnival

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Shrove Tuesday"?
"Shrove Tuesday" is spelled S-H-R-O-V-E- -T-U-E-S-D-A-Y.
What does "Shrove Tuesday" mean?
As a noun, "Shrove Tuesday" means: The day before the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday.
What is the origin of the word "Shrove Tuesday"?
The second element is Tuesday; the first element may be a reflex of Old English *scrāf “confession” (related to the modern verb shrive), from the medieval practice of priests hearing confessions on this day. 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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list