squiggly

/ˈskwɪɡli/

//ˈskwɪɡli// adj

"squiggly" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“squiggly” is uncommon English (frequency #72,786 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#72,786
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Not straight; wavy and irregular.

Corpus desk

Index EN-squiggly · squiggly · English

squiggly · rank #72,786 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #72,786
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH spie

Nearest frequency peer: spie (-1 rank slots)

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.

Long-tail ranks near “squiggly”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “squiggly” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for squiggly
PropertyValue
Headwordsquiggly
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/ˈskwɪɡli/
Letters8
Frequency rank#72,786
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “squiggly” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).squigglyfalls in this rarity band:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “spie” (#72,785), “Spey” (#72,784), “steelmaking” (#72,788). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “squiggly” is #72,786. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

squiggly is uncommon English at frequency #72,786 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈskwɪɡli/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Not straight; wavy and irregular.".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for squiggly, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From squiggle + -y. The correct English form is squiggly, spelled S-Q-U-I-G-G-L-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    Not straight; wavy and irregular.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. She didn't have a ruler, so she drew a squiggly line to highlight the main points.
  2. My first memories of eating are bowls of squiggly pasta with red sauce and lots of white cheese.

Etymology

From squiggle + -y.

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 "squiggly"?
"squiggly" is spelled S-Q-U-I-G-G-L-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈskwɪɡli/.
What does "squiggly" mean?
As an adjective, "squiggly" means: Not straight; wavy and irregular.
How do you pronounce "squiggly"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "squiggly" is /ˈskwɪɡli/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "squiggly"?
From squiggle + -y. 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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "squiggly", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list