Sleeping Beauty

name

"sleeping-beauty" is a 14-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency English
15
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A fairy tale originally titled La Belle au bois dormant by Charles Perrault.

Corpus desk

Index EN-sleeping-beauty · Sleeping Beauty · English

Sleeping Beauty · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 15 letters
  • VOW-7 7 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 Sleeping Beauty
PropertyValue
HeadwordSleeping Beauty
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechProper noun
Letters15
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “Sleeping Beauty” in English

Sleeping Beautyranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

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

Rare enough to double-check

Sleeping Beauty is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aproper noun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for Sleeping Beauty in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

Etymologically, the entry records: In the genetics sense, so called because the transposon was brought back to activity from a long evolutionary sleep. The correct English form is Sleeping Beauty, spelled S-L-E-E-P-I-N-G- -B-E-A-U-T-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    A fairy tale originally titled La Belle au bois dormant by Charles Perrault.
  2. 2
    The main character in this story, who is in unbroken slumber under a magical spell, awaiting the kiss of a prince.
  3. 3
    A transposon used in genetic engineering.
  4. 4
    One who is asleep at an inappropriate time.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. How far have we come since the days of our favorite childhood fairy tales if women still need a rescuer like the Cinderellas, Sleeping Beauties, and other helpless maidens of the past?
  2. Womanly duties, as Joan thought of them, were fine for girls who imagined themselves as Cinderellas or Sleeping Beauties, good girls rewarded for menial housework and, in the case of Sleeping Beauty, a passivity so profound it was deaf, dumb, blind, and comatose.

Etymology

In the genetics sense, so called because the transposon was brought back to activity from a long evolutionary sleep.

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 "Sleeping Beauty"?
"Sleeping Beauty" is spelled S-L-E-E-P-I-N-G- -B-E-A-U-T-Y.
What does "Sleeping Beauty" mean?
As a proper noun, "Sleeping Beauty" means: A fairy tale originally titled La Belle au bois dormant by Charles Perrault.
What is the origin of the word "Sleeping Beauty"?
In the genetics sense, so called because the transposon was brought back to activity from a long evolutionary sleep. 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