slash
/slaʃ/
"slash" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“slash” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #12,142 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #12,142
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A slashing action or motion:
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | slash |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /slaʃ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #12,142 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “slash” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for slash is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /slaʃ/. Corpus data places it at rank #12,142 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 14 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for slash, with forms such as "lsash", "salsh", and "slahs". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "ssh", "slay", "spas", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Late Middle English, originally a verb of uncertain etymology. Perhaps of imitative origin, or possibly from Old French esclachier (“to break in pieces”), a variant of esclater, which is likely a Germanic borrowing, from Frankish *slaitan (“to slit, tear”).… The correct English form is slash, spelled S-L-A-S-H.
Definition
- 1A slashing action or motion:
- 2A slashing action or motion:
- 3A slashing action or motion:
- 4A mark made by slashing:
- 5A mark made by slashing:
- 6Something resembling such a mark:
- 7Something resembling such a mark:
- 8Something resembling such a mark:
- 9Something resembling such a mark:
- 10Something resembling such a mark:
- 11Something resembling such a mark:
- 12The loose woody debris remaining from a slash; the trimmings left while preparing felled trees for removal.
- 13A wet or swampy place overgrown with bushes
- 14Slash fiction; fan fiction focused on homoerotic pairing of fictional characters.
Etymology
Late Middle English, originally a verb of uncertain etymology. Perhaps of imitative origin, or possibly from Old French esclachier (“to break in pieces”), a variant of esclater, which is likely a Germanic borrowing, from Frankish *slaitan (“to slit, tear”). Used in the Wycliffe Bible as slascht (see 1 Kings 5:18) but otherwise unattested until 16th century. Conjunctive use from various applications of the punctuation mark ⟨/⟩. See also slash fiction.
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: lsash,salsh,slahs,slashh,slassh,sllash,slsah,sslash
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of slash - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “slash”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-L-A-S-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /slaʃ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “ssh” - see the side-by-side comparison. slash vs ssh
- 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.