sulky
/ˈsʌlki/
"sulky" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sulky” is uncommon English (frequency #64,750 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #64,750
- frequency rank, English
- 6,566
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - silent and withdrawn after being upset
Corpus desk
Index EN-sulky · sulky · English
sulky · rank #64,750 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #64,750
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,566
- PHOTO-FINISH suckle
Nearest frequency peer: suckle (-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 “sulky”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- substantive…
substantively
35,253 corpus weight
- suckle
suckle
35,252 corpus weight
- sulky
sulky
35,251 corpus weight
- suman
suman
35,250 corpus weight
- survivable
survivable
35,249 corpus weight
- syncope
syncope
35,246 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “sulky” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | sulky |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈsʌlki/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #64,750 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “sulky” in English
Rare enough to double-check
sulky is uncommon English at frequency #64,750 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈsʌlki/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "silent and withdrawn after being upset".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for sulky, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: See sulk. The vehicle is so called as it obliges the rider to be alone, as though sulking. The correct English form is sulky, spelled S-U-L-K-Y.
Definition
- 1silent and withdrawn after being upset
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how sulky appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
the sulky child
1865, Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Indeed, she had quite a long argument with the Lory, who at last turned sulky, and would only say, “I’m older than you, and must know better.” And this Alice would not allow, without knowing how old it was, and, as the Lory positively refused to tell its age, there was no more to be said.
Etymology
See sulk. The vehicle is so called as it obliges the rider to be alone, as though sulking.
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 "sulky"?
What does "sulky" mean?
How do you pronounce "sulky"?
What is the origin of the word "sulky"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "sulky", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).