star-crossed
/ˈstɑːˌkɹɒst/
"star-crossed" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“star-crossed” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Ill-fated by destiny, the fate of the person being “written in the stars”.
Corpus desk
Index EN-star-crossed · star-crossed · English
star-crossed · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 12 letters
- VOW-3 3 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 | star-crossed |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈstɑːˌkɹɒst/ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “star-crossed” in English
Rare enough to double-check
star-crossed is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈstɑːˌkɹɒst/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Ill-fated by destiny, the fate of the person being “written in the stars”.".
Zero misspellings are on record for star-crossed in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From star + crossed. Coined by William Shakespeare in 1597 in Romeo and Juliet, see quotations. The correct English form is star-crossed, spelled S-T-A-R---C-R-O-S-S-E-D.
Definition
- 1Ill-fated by destiny, the fate of the person being “written in the stars”.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how star-crossed appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The star-crossed lovers looked into each other's eyes, before dying.
From forth the fatall loynes of theſe two foes, / A paire of ſtarre-crost Louers tooke their life:
Etymology
From star + crossed. Coined by William Shakespeare in 1597 in Romeo and Juliet, see quotations.
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.