sick as a dog
"sick-as-a-dog" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sick as a dog” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 13
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Very ill.
Corpus desk
Index EN-sick-as-a-dog · sick as a dog · English
sick as a dog · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 13 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 | sick as a dog |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 13 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “sick as a dog” in English
Rare enough to double-check
sick as a dog is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Very ill.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for sick as a dog in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct English form is sick as a dog, spelled S-I-C-K- -A-S- -A- -D-O-G.
Definition
- 1Very ill.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how sick as a dog appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
I caught that new strain of flu and for three days I was as sick as a dog.
Ay, but thou knowest he's as uncertain as the wind; and if, instead of quarrelling with me, he should grow fond, he'd make me as sick as a dog.
Synonyms
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.