spitting image
/ˈspɪtɪŋ ˈɪmɪdʒ/
"spitting-image" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“spitting image” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 14
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The exact likeness (of someone); speaking/living image.
Corpus desk
Index EN-spitting-image · spitting image · English
spitting image · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 14 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 | spitting image |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈspɪtɪŋ ˈɪmɪdʒ/ |
| Letters | 14 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “spitting image” in English
Rare enough to double-check
spitting image is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈspɪtɪŋ ˈɪmɪdʒ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The exact likeness (of someone); speaking/living image.".
spitting image has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: An alteration of the earlier spitten image (see spitten). A popular folk etymology explains this phrase as deriving from the idea of a father spitting out a child whole from his mouth, as if giving birth. But spitten image actually developed from spit and i… The correct English form is spitting image, spelled S-P-I-T-T-I-N-G- -I-M-A-G-E.
Definition
- 1The exact likeness (of someone); speaking/living image.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how spitting image appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
You're the spitting image of my brother.
I swear my grandson is the spitting image of my Jeffrey when he was a baby.
Etymology
An alteration of the earlier spitten image (see spitten). A popular folk etymology explains this phrase as deriving from the idea of a father spitting out a child whole from his mouth, as if giving birth. But spitten image actually developed from spit and image, where spit in this context means “likeness”. Terban further suggests a derivation of this sense of spit from the word spirit, but evidence for this is lacking. Another theory is that the idiom is Biblical, after an image of God spitting into dry earth to make the clay out of which Adam would be formed.
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.