soap opera
/ˈsoʊp ˌɑ.pɚ.ə/
"soap-opera" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“soap opera” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A radio or television serial, typically broadcast in the afternoon or evening, about the lives of melodramatic characters, which are often filled with strong emotions, highly dramatic situations an...
Corpus desk
Index EN-soap-opera · soap opera · English
soap opera · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-5 5 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 | soap opera |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsoʊp ˌɑ.pɚ.ə/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “soap opera” in English
Rare enough to double-check
soap opera is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈsoʊp ˌɑ.pɚ.ə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for soap opera in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From the soap and detergent commercials originally broadcast during the shows, which were aimed at the audience of women who were doing their cleaning; opera from the melodramatic character of the shows, as the earlier horse opera. The correct English form is soap opera, spelled S-O-A-P- -O-P-E-R-A.
Definition
- 1A radio or television serial, typically broadcast in the afternoon or evening, about the lives of melodramatic characters, which are often filled with strong emotions, highly dramatic situations and suspense.
- 2Such serials in general.
- 3Any story that is like a soap opera, as by being convoluted or melodramatic.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how soap opera appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
This chapter considers the growing interest in the popular Welsh-language soap opera, Pobol Y Cwm (People of the Valley), and the extent to which discourses of Welshness and definitions of cultural and national identity contribute to the appeal and longevity of the soap.
It also followed the very successful long-running soap opera, Neighbours.
Etymology
From the soap and detergent commercials originally broadcast during the shows, which were aimed at the audience of women who were doing their cleaning; opera from the melodramatic character of the shows, as the earlier horse opera.
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.