standoffish
/stænˈdɒf.ɪʃ/
"standoffish" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“standoffish” is uncommon English (frequency #85,809 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #85,809
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Aloof; reserved; unsociable and unfriendly.
Corpus desk
Index EN-standoffish · standoffish · English
standoffish · rank #85,809 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #85,809
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH statutorily
Nearest frequency peer: statutorily (+2 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 “standoffish”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- splay
splay
14,197 corpus weight
- squiggle
squiggle
14,195 corpus weight
- standoffish
standoffish
14,192 corpus weight
- statutorily
statutorily
14,190 corpus weight
- steepness
steepness
14,188 corpus weight
- stomachache
stomachache
14,184 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “standoffish” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | standoffish |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /stænˈdɒf.ɪʃ/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #85,809 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “standoffish” in English
Rare enough to double-check
standoffish is uncommon English at frequency #85,809 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /stænˈdɒf.ɪʃ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Aloof; reserved; unsociable and unfriendly.".
standoffish doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From stand off + -ish. The correct English form is standoffish, spelled S-T-A-N-D-O-F-F-I-S-H.
Definition
- 1Aloof; reserved; unsociable and unfriendly.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how standoffish appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
He was stand-offish with the other agents. They on their side said he was the manager’s spy upon them.
His initial impression was that he was a bit standoffish or not over effusive […]
Etymology
From stand off + -ish.
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
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "standoffish", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).