sleuthhound
/ˈsluːθˌhaʊnd/
"sleuthhound" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sleuthhound” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A working dog who tracks or pursues e.g. a wanted criminal; a bloodhound formerly used in Scotland.
Corpus desk
Index EN-sleuthhound · sleuthhound · English
sleuthhound · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 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 | sleuthhound |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsluːθˌhaʊnd/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “sleuthhound” in English
Rare enough to double-check
sleuthhound is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈsluːθˌhaʊnd/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for sleuthhound, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English sluth hunde (and earlier as slodogge), from Old Norse slóð (“track”) + hound. The correct English form is sleuthhound, spelled S-L-E-U-T-H-H-O-U-N-D.
Definition
- 1A working dog who tracks or pursues e.g. a wanted criminal; a bloodhound formerly used in Scotland.
- 2A detective; a sleuth.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how sleuthhound appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Sometimes he pursued the wily burn trout with relentless ferocity and the silent intentness of a sleuthhound. Often, however, he would pause and with his finger indicate some favourite stone to Winsome.
And straightway the minions of the law led forth from their donjon keep one whom the sleuthhounds of justice had apprehended in consequence of information received.
Etymology
From Middle English sluth hunde (and earlier as slodogge), from Old Norse slóð (“track”) + hound.
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.