slashdot
"slashdot" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“slashdot” is uncommon English (frequency #80,893 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #80,893
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To render a website slow or unusable via the unusually large number of page requests that result from a link on a very popular web site.
Corpus desk
Index EN-slashdot · slashdot · English
slashdot · rank #80,893 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #80,893
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH skink
Nearest frequency peer: skink (-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 “slashdot”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- sinfonia
sinfonia
19,112 corpus weight
- sintered
sintered
19,111 corpus weight
- skink
skink
19,109 corpus weight
- slashdot
slashdot
19,108 corpus weight
- slimmest
slimmest
19,106 corpus weight
- sloot
sloot
19,105 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “slashdot” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | slashdot |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #80,893 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “slashdot” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
slashdot is uncommon English at frequency #80,893 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To render a website slow or unusable via the unusually large number of page requests that result from a link on a very popular web site.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for slashdot, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: After Slashdot, a site that commonly links to other, smaller sites. The correct English form is slashdot, spelled S-L-A-S-H-D-O-T.
Definition
- 1To render a website slow or unusable via the unusually large number of page requests that result from a link on a very popular web site.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how slashdot appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
2002, Shelley Powers et al., Unix Power Tools http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0596003307&id=t295L6vYuUkC&pg=PA501&lpg=PA501&dq=slashdotted&sig=rF5IZDXp33wnnsgkRIC5niMtqHM If these numbers are significantly higher than normal usage, something is amiss (perhaps your web server has been slashdotted).
[2003], 2006 Matthew Strebe, The Best of SlashNOT, 2002–2005 http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0595383157&id=skVK4smqz8UC&pg=PA99&lpg=PA99&dq=slashdotted&sig=z6LagXUGvJ09gG77HdLoLSEnFAk And that guy is supposed to be thrilled to lose both his inbound and outbound connections and e-mail for the joy of having been slashdotted.
Etymology
After Slashdot, a site that commonly links to other, smaller sites.
Synonyms
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 September 3, 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 "slashdot", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
What to do next
You've looked up "slashdot". Here's where to go from here.
- Usage frequency rank #80,893 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "S" letter cohort. S–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.