tearjerker
"tearjerker" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“tearjerker” is uncommon English (frequency #93,223 among 3,151 “T” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #93,223
- frequency rank, English
- 3,151
- “T” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An emotionally charged film, novel, song, opera, television episode, etc., usually with one or more sad passages or ending.
Corpus desk
Index EN-tearjerker · tearjerker · English
tearjerker · rank #93,223 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #93,223
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,151
- PHOTO-FINISH telework
Nearest frequency peer: telework (+2 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 “tearjerker”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- tautological
tautological
6,782 corpus weight
- tearjerker
tearjerker
6,778 corpus weight
- telework
telework
6,776 corpus weight
- temporality
temporality
6,775 corpus weight
- temporomand…
temporomandibular
6,774 corpus weight
- Tennent
Tennent
6,773 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “tearjerker” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tearjerker |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #93,223 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “tearjerker” in English
Rare enough to double-check
tearjerker is uncommon English at frequency #93,223 among 3,151 “T” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "An emotionally charged film, novel, song, opera, television episode, etc., usually with one or more sad passages or ending.".
No misspelling variants are generated for tearjerker in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From tear + jerker, so termed because it suggests one is likely to cry during its performance. The correct English form is tearjerker, spelled T-E-A-R-J-E-R-K-E-R.
Definition
- 1An emotionally charged film, novel, song, opera, television episode, etc., usually with one or more sad passages or ending.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how tearjerker appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Renamed in honor of the tube tearjerker, the work wondrously went on to become the most recognized theme in all of soapdom.
The psychologist Paul Rozin lumps tearjerkers with other examples of benign masochism like smoking, riding on roller coasters, eating hot chili peppers, and sitting in saunas.
Etymology
From tear + jerker, so termed because it suggests one is likely to cry during its performance.
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
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "tearjerker", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).