status quo
/ˌsteɪ.təs ˈkwəʊ/
"status-quo" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“status quo” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The state of things; the way things are, as opposed to the way they could be; the existing state of affairs.
Corpus desk
Index EN-status-quo · status quo · English
status quo · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-4 4 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 | status quo |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌsteɪ.təs ˈkwəʊ/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “status quo” in English
Rare enough to double-check
status quo is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌsteɪ.təs ˈkwəʊ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The state of things; the way things are, as opposed to the way they could be; the existing state of affairs.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for status quo, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin status (“state”) (sometimes used in the ablative statū) + quō (“in which”), the ablative of quī (“which”). The correct English form is status quo, spelled S-T-A-T-U-S- -Q-U-O.
Definition
- 1The state of things; the way things are, as opposed to the way they could be; the existing state of affairs.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how status quo appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
“As a black woman,” Jemisin tells me, “I have no particular interest in maintaining the status quo. Why would I? The status quo is harmful, the status quo is significantly racist and sexist and a whole bunch of other things that I think need to change. With epic fantasy there is a tendency for it to be quintessentially conservative, in that its job is to…
Etymology
From Latin status (“state”) (sometimes used in the ablative statū) + quō (“in which”), the ablative of quī (“which”).
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.