take one's time

verb

"take-one-s-time" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“take one's time” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
15
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To go about something slowly and carefully or at one's own pace.

Key facts for take one's time
PropertyValue
Headwordtake one's time
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters15
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “take one's time” sits in English frequency

take one's time falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

take one's time is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for take one's time, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is take one's time, spelled T-A-K-E- -O-N-E-'-S- -T-I-M-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    To go about something slowly and carefully or at one's own pace.
  2. 2
    To take more time to do something than is considered acceptable.

Synonyms

dawdletake too longtarry

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

How do you spell "take one's time"?
"take one's time" is spelled T-A-K-E- -O-N-E-'-S- -T-I-M-E.
What does "take one's time" mean?
As a verb, "take one's time" means: To go about something slowly and carefully or at one's own pace.
What language does "take one's time" come from?
"take one's time" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “take one's time”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is T-A-K-E- -O-N-E-'-S- -T-I-M-E - 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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list