speedup

noun

"speedup" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“speedup” is uncommon English (frequency #81,844 among 54,294 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#81,844
frequency rank, English
54,294
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An amount or rate of decrease in time taken to do a certain amount of work.

Key facts for speedup
PropertyValue
Headwordspeedup
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters7
Frequency rank#81,844
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “speedup” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). speedup lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

speedup is uncommon English at frequency #81,844 among 54,294 “S” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for speedup, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: Deverbal from speed up. The correct English form is speedup, spelled S-P-E-E-D-U-P.

Definition

  1. 1
    An amount or rate of decrease in time taken to do a certain amount of work.
  2. 2
    The relationship between time taken and number of processors used.
  3. 3
    An employer's demand for more output without more pay.

Etymology

Deverbal from speed up.

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); 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

How do you spell "speedup"?
"speedup" is spelled S-P-E-E-D-U-P.
What does "speedup" mean?
As a noun, "speedup" means: An amount or rate of decrease in time taken to do a certain amount of work.
What is the origin of the word "speedup"?
Deverbal from speed up. 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.

Using “speedup”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is S-P-E-E-D-U-P - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words

Other uncommon English words near this rank

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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list