tear gas
/ˈtɪə ɡæs/
"tear-gas" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“tear gas” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any lachrymatory, non-lethal chemical compound that causes the eyes to sting and water and/or irritates the respiratory system, mostly used for controlling crowds during riots or as self-defense.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tear gas |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈtɪə ɡæs/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “tear gas” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
tear gas is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈtɪə ɡæs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Any lachrymatory, non-lethal chemical compound that causes the eyes to sting and water and/or irritates the respiratory system, mostly used for controlling crowds during riots or as self-defense.".
tear gas has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct English form is tear gas, spelled T-E-A-R- -G-A-S.
Definition
- 1Any lachrymatory, non-lethal chemical compound that causes the eyes to sting and water and/or irritates the respiratory system, mostly used for controlling crowds during riots or as self-defense.
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
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Using “tear gas”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-E-A-R- -G-A-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈtɪə ɡæs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.