stab in the back
"stab-in-the-back" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“stab in the back” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 16
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An act of betrayal or treachery.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | stab in the back |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 16 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “stab in the back” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
stab in the back is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "An act of betrayal or treachery.".
No misspelling variants are generated for stab in the back in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct English form is stab in the back, spelled S-T-A-B- -I-N- -T-H-E- -B-A-C-K.
Definition
- 1An act of betrayal or treachery.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “stab in the back”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-T-A-B- -I-N- -T-H-E- -B-A-C-K - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.